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In
1689 Henry Purcell composed Dido and Aeneas, his only
true opera, for the young women of Josias Priest's School in Chelsea,
London. The libretto was by Nahum Tate (1652-1715), poet laureate
and playwright, best known for writing the words to the carol
"While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night".
The
story of the opera is rather loosely based on Vergil's Aeneid
and Ovid's Fasti. Dido (also called Elissa) was a princess
of Tyre, whose brother murdered her husband, causing her to flee
to the coast of Libya, where she founds the great city of Carthage.
Aeneas, prince of Troy turns up, after the Trojan wars, seeking
refuge and a place to refit his ships on his way to Italy, where
he is fated to found a great kingdom. Dido falls in love with
him, but they are separated (in the original story) by Jupiter,
who intends Aeneas to complete his fated journey to Italy. In
the opera, Tate gives Dido a great enemy, a wicked Sorceress,
who hates the Queen, and sends a witch disguised as Mercury, to
remind Aeneas of his fate.
The
BBC has an excellent website with more background about Purcell's
opera Dido
and Aeneas.
More
about Dido and Aeneas in Greek mythology
Alexa Wing and Heather Eisener rehearse Mon.
April 12
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Cast |
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Nina
Scott-Stoddart (Dido and Sorceress), contralto, is a Calgary
native who moved to Lunenburg from Toronto in 2002. Nina has
sung with many orchestras and opera companies, including Tafelmusik,
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Opera
Atelier, Opera Maine, Toronto Operetta Theatre and the International
Chamber Music Festival in New Zealand. She looks forward to
her debut later this year as the Duchess of Plaza Toro in The
Gondoliers with the Gilbert and Sullivan Society! Nina has been
recorded on the Naxos label and has been broadcast coast to
coast on CBC Radio.
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Baritone
Jason Parkhill (Aeneas) has been working as
a professional opera singer since his 1996 debut with the Connecticut
Opera as Marquis D'Obigny in La Traviata. |
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has also performed as a featured soloist with groups in Nova
Scotia including Symphony Nova Scotia, Nova Sinfonia, Scotia
Concert Opera, Seton Cantata Choir, Chebucto Symphony, Gilbert
& Sullivan Society, Dalhousie Opera Theatre and the Walter
Kemp Singers. He is a member of the voice faculty of the MCPA.
studied as an undergraduate music student at Dalhousie University.
Jason is also the co-founder and Music Director of the Nova
Scotia Opera Association. |
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Sarnia,
Ontario-born soprano, Alexa Wing (Belinda), has just
returned from an audition tour of Germany. She is an accomplished
oratorio and concert performer, having made her British recital
debut in 1997, |
followed
by solo appearances with the Toronto Symphony, Windsor Symphony,
London Fanshawe Symphonic Chorus, as well as the Aradia Baroque
Ensemble.
As a returning guest artist with Toronto's Opera Anonymous,
Ms Wing has appeared as Lucia and Female Chrous in Britten's
The Rape of Lucretia, and Amelia in Menotti's Amelia
goes to the ball. Ms. Wing has performed under the baton
of conductors Mario Bernardi, Mariss Jansons, Elmer Iseler,
and Daniel Lipton. She is a frequent recitalist in repertoire
ranging from Bach to Alban Berg.
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Mary
Knickle (Second Woman/First Witch), soprano. Born in Lunenburg,
Nova Scotia, Mary grew up singing traditional East Coast songs
and listening to stories of the local fishermen. |
She
graduated from Acadia University with a music degree and subsequently
studied music and theatre in New York and Toronto. Mary is a
Celtic singer and songwriter of great conviction, and is well-known
for the passion she brings to her music. This is her second
appearance with MCO.
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Tenor Christian Heyne (Sailor) grew up in a
very musical family in his native Germany. He sang with the
Bergedorfer Kammerchor before moving to Canada. He now lives
in Rose Bay, |
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has appeared with the Lunenburg Chorale, and other local groups.
This is his debut with MCO. |
Jennah
Barry (Second Witch)
Lisa Jorgensen (Spirit)
Chorus:
Marie Hogan Loker, Leslee Barry, Mary Knickle, Meghan Fischback,
Lisa Jorgensen, Jennah Barry, Christian Heyne, Christopher Snarby,
David Robinson
Chorus
master: Heather Eisener
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Rehearsal
Photos!
 Mary
Knickle, Lisa Jorgensen and Jennah Barry
Meghan Fischback
 Heather
Eisener
 Leslee
Barry
David Robinson and Marie Hogan Loker
Halifax Baroque Ensemble's continuo section rehearses Tues. April
6: Barbara Thompson Wilson and Patrick Heatherley
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