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Dido & Aeneas (Underground/Opera)
Winchester Street Theatre :: August 18, 2009 - August 29, 2009
 "Marks a new level of sophistication for baroque opera" - Globe & Mail . "More than beautiful sounds...the visuals are a constant wonder" - Now Magazine . "An impressively strong debut production" - Toronto Star
Purcell's masterpiece on period instruments with avant-garde video projections & contemporary staging. Classical Music Consort & Opera Erratica present Purcell's Dido & Aeneas Underground /Opera Old Music + New Media August 19-29 Aug18 TUE 8pm - Preview performance Aug19 WED 8pm - Opening Night performance is completely SOLD OUT Aug21 FRI 8pm Aug22 SAT 8pm Aug23 SUN 2pm MATINEE Aug25 TUES 8pm Aug26 WED 8pm Aug27 THURS 8pm Aug28 FRI 8pm Aug29 SAT 8pm Winchester Street Theatre 80 Winchester Street Cabbagetown 2 streets South of Wellesley Street East 1 street East of Parliament Street Winchester Street Theatre website Map to Winchester Street Theatre ~~~~~~~~~~ Tickets $38 adults $22 seniors $22 under 30 ~~~~~~~~~~ Ashiq Aziz, conductor Patrick Eakin Young, director & designer Susanne Hawkins, Dido Olivier Laquerre, Aeneas Charlotte Corwin, Belinda Also with Dawn Bailey, Sarah Whalen, Andrew Pickett, John Bacon, Kevin Sean Pook, and Marc Michalak ~~~~~~~~~~ After the success of Acis and Galatea at the 2008 FR!NGE of Toronto Festival, Opera Erratica and The Classical Music Consort are again bringing their unique mix of old music and new media to Toronto with Henry Purcell's 1689 masterpiece Dido and Aeneas. This iconic piece of English music tells the tragic story of Dido, the Queen of Carthage, and her tragic love for the wandering hero Aeneas. At only an hour's length, this deceptively simple opera is one of Purcell's most popular and enduring works. Dido's famous final lament is one of the most haunting and beautiful pieces in the western cannon and has even been performed by pop musicians, from the likes of Jeff Buckley to Klaus Nomi . Opera Erratica and the CMC are presenting this masterpiece as it was meant to be heard and as Toronto has never seen: performed on period instruments, conducted by Ashiq Aziz, with avant-garde video projections and staging by Patrick Eakin Young. The Winchester Street Theatre, a converted church in Cabbage Town, offers a unique and intimate setting for this innovative production of one of opera's most memorable and moving works. As part of Opera Erratica and the CMC's commitment to fostering new audiences for classical music, tickets are only $22 for those under 30 years old! For more information, visit Opera Erratica or email info@opera-erratica.org ~~~~~~~~~~ What the media are saying about Dido & Aeneas Preview Articles Dido and Aeneas revisited: Baroque opera gets multimedia treatment Tandem News preview article (August 16-23) "Purcell’s 1689 opera Dido and Aeneas, with its haunting aria “Dido’s Lament,” is a standard work of the Baroque opera repertoire, but a pair of young companies is teaming up to put a new spin on the familiar work..." NOW picks: Stage from Hot Summer Guide (July 29 - August 5) "Dido Delivers - Think classical opera can’t be edgy? Conductor Ashiq Aziz and director/designer Patrick Eakin Young wowed Fringe audiences last year with a sexy, musically powerful version of Handel’s Acis And Galatea..." Verdi in Skinny Jeans: A Toronto troupe attempts to bring the hipsters to the classics The National Post (August 18) "Most 26-year-olds will not readily be found conducting a baroque opera with one hand while playing a harpsichord with the other -- but for Ashiq Aziz, this is just another rehearsal..." Reviews Shadows that find the heart of Purcell The Globe & Mail (August 20) "Opera Erratica's Dido and Aeneas marks a new level of sophistication for baroque opera..." Opera projections Eye Weekly (August 19) "Digital culture and gender play abound in Opera Erratica’s new production of Dido and Aeneas..." Day-after reviews - Dido dazzles: Baroque opera reinterpreted through striking visuals Now Magazine (August 20) "You’ll get a lot more than beautiful sounds in Opera Erratica and Classical Music Consort’s production of Henry Purcell’s 1689 opera Dido And Aeneas. The visuals are a constant wonder in this hour-long work, thanks to director/designer Patrick Eakin Young. His contemporary, multimedia staging comments on the work’s narrative and characters..." Strong start for city's new opera company Toronto Star (August 20) *** (out of 4) "There's a new opera company in Toronto with an impressively strong debut production that opened last night at the Winchester Street Theatre..." ~~~~~~~~~~ Recent praise for the CMC/Opera Erratica's production of Handel's Acis & Galatea (2008 Toronto Fringe Festival) “Ashiq Aziz gets gorgeous sounds from his original-instrument-playing orchestra and fine crop of singers… Young’s spare staging…gives an immediacy to the mythic tale, while the video… adds layers of dramatic subtext.” – Glen Sumi, NOW Magazine "...a hugely enjoyable production with a refreshing and somewhat unexpected approach that mixed old music with new media." - Wayne Gooding, Opera Canada "The lively work is beautifully played and sung." - Christopher Hoile, Eye Weekly “[Conductor Ashiq] Aziz and director Patrick Young have accomplished something quite special in their relaxed and confident production. Opera, for the general North American population, is dead. This is due to its inability to change and reflect the world as the current generation sees it. Of course there are great and enduring works on universal human themes, but many opera companies neglect to focus on these themes from a contemporary perspective, and instead concentrate their efforts on the preservation of the original art form, featuring corsets and large, heavy sets in giant theatres. Aziz and Young, however, make their production electric by stripping away those excesses and letting the work speak for itself. This is an intimate and excellent production, the right direction for the future of opera." – Aurora de Pena, Time and Space Magazine ~~~~~~~~~~ Classical Music Consort website Opera Erratica website . 
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Dido & Aeneas (Underground/Opera)Winchester Street Theatre Ticket Sales Begin: Ticket Prices: adult - $38.00 senior - $22.00 under 30 - $22.00 
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