DIDO AND AENEAS

Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell.

Fri. Feb. 15 - 8pm
Sun. Feb. 17 - 6pm
Fri. Feb. 22 - 8pm
Trinity-on-Main Performance Center, New Britain

Sat. Feb. 23, 7:30pm
Middletown High School, Middletown

Fri. Feb. 29, 8pm
Unitarian Univeralist Congreation, New London

Director: Jaroslaw Strzemien
Conductor: Adrian Sylveen Mackiewicz

Dido - Queen of Carthage - Meredith Ziegler
Belinda - Dido's sister and handmaid - Jonelyn Langenstein
Aeneas - Trojan Prince - Gregory Zavracky
Sorceress - Valerie Nicolosi

Ballet by Children's Dance Theater Connection, Patricia Martin, Artistic Director

In order to cure her unhappiness, Dido, queen of Carthage, marries the Trojan prince, Aeneas, who is madly in love with her. While Dido and Aeneas are out hunting, an evil Sorceress and her assistants plot the destruction of Dido and Carthage. Soon, an evil witch disguised as the God Mercury stops Aeneas. She tells him that he must abandon Carthage and found a new Troy on Latin soil. While Aeneas hates the thought of leaving Dido, he cannot refuse a god's command. In the end, Aeneas decides to defy the god's command and stay with Dido. Nevertheless, Dido refuses to stay with a lover who even considered leaving her and soon dies.

OPERA FACT

All the great operas touch on universal themes of human existence - love, hate, family, faith, the search for self.

Operas such as Verdi's Aida and Gershwin's Porgy and Bess explore issues of race, religion, and class that remain relevant today.