<< Front page Arts November 21, 2003

Purcell goes international
Conservatory students to perform in Buenos Aires

An international opera project between the Cleveland Trinity Cathedral and El Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires will include seven Oberlin Conservatory students with casts from Teatro Colon and the Cleveland Chamber Orchestra. The project has already begun workshops and will finish with a grandiose show, featuring Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas in January in Trinity Cathedral and in March in Teatro Colon.

The production is part of a four year old program that started with an international agreement between the Ohio Arts Council and the city of Buenos Aires for cooperation on individual art projects. This will be the first time a whole production is exchanged.

The Ohio Arts Council is supporting the project with personnel and funds. Jonathon Field, Associate Professor of Opera Theater, Director of Opera Theater Productions and director of the project has already been to Buenos Aires to begin preparations.

The production will have double cast performers from both Teatro Colon and Oberlin Conservatory will alternate as cast in the performances. On January 30th and 31st two different mixed casts will perform in Cleveland’s Trinity Cathedral.

The Ohio Arts Council will cover the living expenses for the Oberlin students when they go to Buenos Aires in March. Aside from the seven students, some faculty members will also leave for Argentina to help with the enormous production.

Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell is considered to be England’s oldest opera. It was first performed in a girl’s school in Chelsea, London, but unfortunately, the original does not survive, nor do any of the 17th century copies. The story is based on Virgil’s poem Aeneid, although a little changed.

Dido, the queen of Carthage, falls in love with Aeneas, who is fleeing from Troy as a consequence of the loss of the Trojan war. However, some witches, who hate Dido, remind Aeneas that he is predestined to leave Carthage and become the founder of the Roman Empire. Aeneas leaves Dido, which throws her into deep depression and she commits suicide.

   

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