WCO Announces Virtual Dido & Aeneas for Spring 2021

Wilmington Concert Opera Announces their First Completely Virtual Opera “Dido and Aeneas”

Wilmington, DE (October 19, 2020) – Wilmington Concert Opera is delighted to announce their first completely virtual opera “Dido & Aeneas,” by Henry Purcell. The opera will be released online in the spring of 2021.

Founded in 2016 by Kirsten C. Kunkle and Marisa Robinson, Wilmington Concert Opera provides high-quality concert performances of operas in their original languages to the Wilmington, Delaware community, while creating performance opportunities for emerging and established opera singers in the greater Wilmington area. In response to COVID-19 restrictions, Wilmington Concert Opera’s “Dido and Aeneas” will be pre-recorded by individual singers and pianist to be combined into one fully-synced video production with subtitles for ease of understanding. The ensemble cast is as follows: Kirsten C. Kunkle as Dido, Nicholas Provenzale as Aeneas, Marisa Robinson as Belinda, Anita Lyons as the Sorceress, Michelle Trovato as the First Witch, Rebecca Sacks as the Second Witch, Susan Guyer as Second Lady/Quartet Soprano, Brittany Morgan as Second Lady/Quartet Alto, Russell Gartner as Sailor/Quartet Tenor, and Matthew Hearn as Spirit/Quartet Bass. Reese Revak is the music director and pianist.

Taken from Virgil’s “Aeneid,” “Dido and Aeneas” is one of the staples of the Baroque opera canon. Dido, the widowed Queen of Carthage, entertains the Trojan Prince Aeneas who has been shipwrecked on his way to Italy. Dido and Aeneas quickly fall in love and become inseparable. Witches plot Dido’s destruction and the Sorceress conjures a storm. When the storm breaks, the Sorceress sends a Spirit portraying Mercury to tell Aeneas he must leave Dido and sail for Italy. Aeneas offers to defy the Gods to stay with Dido, but she refuses. Aeneas and his sailors prepare to leave, to the delight of the witches. Aeneas leaves Dido, who dies after singing the famous “When I am Laid in Earth.” Her death is lamented by mourning cupids.

Sung in English with supertitles, Wilmington Concert Opera highly encourages both classical music fans and those new to opera to view this family-friendly event. No tickets are required, but donations are encouraged.

This production is sponsored, in part, by the Delaware CARES Act.