Royal Academy of Music: Sir Jack Lyons TheatreMarylebone Road, London, Greater London, NW1 5HT, United Kingdom
Dates/times in London time zone
Programme
| Purcell, Henry (1659-1695) | Dido and Aeneas | |
| Davies, Sir Peter Maxwell (1934-2016) | The Lighthouse |
Performers
| Royal Academy Opera | |||
| Royal Academy of Music Sinfonia | |||
| Iain Ledingham | Conductor | ||
| Lionel Friend | Conductor | ||
| John Ramster | Director | ||
Dido and Aeneas | |||
| Sarah Shorter | Mezzo-soprano | Dido | 2013 May 16 |
| Samuel Pantcheff | Baritone | Aeneas | 2013 May 16 |
| Sónia Grané | Soprano | Belinda | 2013 May 16 |
The Lighthouse | |||
| Samuel Queen | Baritone | Blazes | 2013 May 16 |
| Iain Milne | Tenor | Sandy | 2013 May 16 |
| Andri Björn Róbertsson | Bass | Arthur | 2013 May 16 |
A startling and contrasting double bill of twentieth- and seventeenth-century operas from these islands. Following the world premiere of his Kommilitonen! in 2011, Royal Academy Opera stages Maxwell Davies’s most performed opera, a mysterious and supernatural psychological thriller based on a true story of the unexplained disappearance of three lighthouse keepers. Traditional folk music, hymns and percussion coexist within a framework of modern music theatre at its most potent.
The evening opens with one of the cornerstones of baroque opera and a progenitor of the English operatic tradition. Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas tells the tragic story of the Queen of Carthage’s love for the last Prince of Troy and her despair when he abandons her at the command of the gods.
This audacious pairing of operas is staged by the same production team as Royal Academy Opera’s previous summer productions of Die Dreigroschenoper (2011) and Mansfield Park (2012).
The Academy welcomes the returns of Lionel Friend, conductor of last year’s Mansfield Park, and of Iain Ledingham, Royal Academy Opera’s former Director of Opera.
The evening opens with one of the cornerstones of baroque opera and a progenitor of the English operatic tradition. Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas tells the tragic story of the Queen of Carthage’s love for the last Prince of Troy and her despair when he abandons her at the command of the gods.
This audacious pairing of operas is staged by the same production team as Royal Academy Opera’s previous summer productions of Die Dreigroschenoper (2011) and Mansfield Park (2012).
The Academy welcomes the returns of Lionel Friend, conductor of last year’s Mansfield Park, and of Iain Ledingham, Royal Academy Opera’s former Director of Opera.
