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Giulio Cesare/Dido and AeneasAn Opera by Gluck/Purcell
An Opera by Gluck/Purcell
Creative Team:
Stage Director: Cathy Dunn
Conductor: Curtis Serafin
Pianist: Zhiyi Ge
Assistant Stage Director: Bridgette Sarich
Assistant Conductor: Chung Hoi Yan
Orfeo ed Euridice , Gluck
Gluck’s opera seria opens with Orfeo mourning his beloved Euridice. Luckily, Amore arrives with welcome news: if he is willing to brave the journey to the underworld, he can return with Euridice to the land of the living. Of course, as with any heroic test, there is one condition: Orfeo may not look at Euridice until they return to Earth. Orfeo is the perfect candidate for this operatic opportunity thanks to his supernatural gift for music. With his lyre for company, the bard begins his quest, first facing the Furies and later abandoning the delights of Elysium in single-minded pursuit of his one true love. But when they are reunited, will he pass the test or lose Euridice forever?
From Monteverdi's 1607 L’Orfeo — widely considered to be the first opera — to the 2016 hit Broadway musical Hadestown, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice has long captivated the world of dramatic musical performance. In many ways, this is due to the figure of Orpheus himself; the son of a muse and a prince, the mythological musician and poet is a natural symbol of the nobility of the arts and the ideal of true love.
Gluck's version of the Orpheus myth has endured thanks to its innovative spirit. This compact work heightens the drama with a small cast and a straightforward plot, creating suspense even for those who already know – or think they know – the fate of the two lovers. Orfeo ed Euridice is also notable for Gluck’s departure from the da capo aria convention in favor of strophic and rondo forms, such as Orfeo’s plaintive “Che farò senza Euridice?”.
Dido and Aeneas , Purcell
Dido, Queen of Carthage, is in her court with her attendants, including her handmaid and confidante, Belinda. Dido is resistant to love, believing it will weaken her authority. However, the arrival of the noble Aeneas, fleeing the fall of his native Troy, has awakened her to the possibility of romance. Belinda’s support of the match and Aeneas’s proposal ultimately win Dido over, and they plan to be married.
However, some mysterious sorceresses, hell-bent on destroying Carthage for reasons undefined, have other plans. Knowing Aeneas will heed the gods above all, they send an elf in disguise as Mercury to tell the Trojan that his task of creating a new Troy in another land must begin. Aeneas, caught between love and duty, must decide whether to marry Dido or depart Carthage. Their love is a powerful force, but are Aeneas’s vocation and Dido’s pride even more so?
Purcell’s best-known work and only through-sung opera, Dido and Aeneas is based on a portion of Virgil’s Aeneid. O riginally performed at a girls’ school, the opera is often interpreted as a political allegory reflecting the tension between Catholic and Protestant English monarchs amidst the Glorious Revolution. Dido’s lament, “When I am laid in earth”, is owed much credit for the opera’s longevity; it is not only dramatically compelling, but also a textbook example of the descending tetrachord and other Baroque musical conventions.
Credits: Kate Shirley
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
430 South Michigan Avenue,Chicago,60605,US, United States
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