Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell - Full Opera

On May 5th 2023, the UUCB Choir, staff, and guest musicians from around the country presented Henry Purcell’s baroque opera Dido and Aeneas for our first ever mUUsic Weekend. This expansion of our traditional Music Sundays began with a full operatic performance on Friday, May 5th at 7:30pm (with pre-show talk at 7pm) and was followed by a presentation of choral excerpts from the opera on Sunday May 7th at our usual service time. The Friday evening performance was open to the public and is now available here so that new audiences can enjoy it! SYNOPSIS: Dido and Aeneas tells the story of Dido, Queen of Carthage, as first told in Virgil’s epic The Aeneid. The widowed and exiled queen is master of her own domain until the widowed and exiled hero Aeneas arrives on her queendom’s shores. Through the meddling of the gods, the two rulers’ fates are bound together, only to then be forced violently apart with horrific consequences for Dido. DIRECTOR’S NOTES: Dido’s famous lament is an extr