Young Bards: Dido

The Opera People launch a brand new series, Young Bards, a young professional artist development programme aimed at growing the performance capabilities of a new generation of singers through curated stage performances. For the inaugural edition of Young Bards, we present Dido - a new adaptation of Henry Purcell’s immortal opera Dido and Aeneas.

Dido, Queen of Carthage, meets Aeneas, who has landed there after fleeing from Troy. As Queen, a political alliance through marriage with Aeneas would bode much security for her city. While she sees the importance of the alliance, and also does love him, she knows that the Gods dictate that his fate is to be the founder of the Roman Empire. Dido portrays a queen torn apart by public obligations and her private desires. She loves Aeneas and knows the political stakes, but Fate will always triumph. She decides to test his resolve.

Directed by Tan Shou Chen, this new adaptation features Alice Putri, Tan See Huey, Ashley Chua, Jonathan Macpherson and Rebecca Reavely, accompanied by musicians of Red Dot Baroque, led by music director Alan Choo.