Dido and Aeneas

‘Remember me, but ah! Forget my fate.’ Dido, Queen of Carthage, learned that destiny is stronger than even the deepest love, and Henry Purcell turned her tragedy into what might be the first truly great opera in the English language. It’s a drama that goes straight to the heart, and after a lifetime in early music Sir Roger Norrington is still finding new beauty in this miraculous score. He’s joined by three superb dramatic singers – and precedes these sorrows with Handel’s gloriously extravagant Water Music: written to entertain Londoners in 1717 and just as much fun in 2019.