FULL DIDO AND AENEAS Samos 2023 Eugenia Charitidou, Christos Gassios, Dear Lefa
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Dido and Aeneas
- Composer: Purcell Henry
- Libretto: Nahum Tate Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: West Samos Municipality Event Hall, Samos, Greece, Pythagorean School of Music
- Recorded: July 2 & 9, 2023
- Type: Staged Opera Live
- Singers: Eugenia Charitidou, Christos Gassios, Dear Lefa, Vangelis Valasakis, Depi Hadjianagnostou, Angela Fakhuri, Evangelia Constantatos, Petroula Joya, Myrto Papasalourou
- Conductor:
- Orchestra: Maria Barbaki, PIANO
- Stage Director:
- Costume Designer:
Information about the Recording
- Format: DVD
- Quality Video: 3 Audio:2
- Subtitles: nosubs
- Video Recording from: YouTube FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
Dido and Aeneas (Z. 626) is an opera in a prologue and three acts, written by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell with a libretto by Nahum Tate. The dates of the composition and first performance of the opera are uncertain. It was composed no later than July 1688, and had been performed at Josias Priest’s girls’ school in London by the end of 1689. Some scholars argue for a date of composition as early as 1683. The story is based on Book IV of Virgil’s Aeneid. It recounts the love of Dido, Queen of Carthage, for the Trojan hero Aeneas, and her despair when he abandons her. A monumental work in Baroque opera, Dido and Aeneas is remembered as one of Purcell’s foremost theatrical works. It was also Purcell’s only true opera, as well as his only all-sung dramatic work. One of the earliest known English operas, it owes much to John Blow’s Venus and Adonis, both in structure and in overall effect.
The influence of Cavalli’s opera Didone is also apparent. Both works use the prologue/three acts format and there are similarities between, for instance, Mercury’s solo in Didone and the solo “Come away fellow sailors” in Purcell’s work.
In July 2023, the Pythagorean School of Music staged an OPERA for the first time in Samos. The Melodramatic department (class D.Tsakania) staged the OPERA “Dido and Aeneas” by H.Purcell in 2 role distributions.
Sunday, July 9, 2023 Second distribution:
Dido: Georgia Karagiannakis
Aeneas: Stelios Somatopoulos
Belinda: Dear Lefa
Sorceress: Vangelis Valasakis
Second Woman: Angeliki Chatzimanoli
First Witch: Marili Lymberi
Second Witch: Depi Hadjianagnostou
Spirit: Gospel of Constantatos
Sailor: Manolis Kokas