Adelaide’s Baroque collective Ensemble Galante and Mopoke Theatre Productions aptly stage their first opera, a torrid tale of a spurned female monarch, at the Queen’s Theatre.
For the soprano charged with embodying the fiery regent, Bethany Hill, Purcell’s 'Dido and Aeneas' is a dream show.
“This is actually one of my favourite operas, to be honest; it’s a short one, only an hour, but it’s filled with a lot of drama. It’s special for me because it’s got one of the most glorious arias in it as well.”
The aria in question, 'Dido’s Lament', has been sung from everyone from operatic divas Susan Graham and Victoria de Los Angeles to angel voiced alt-rock icon Jeff Buckley. Buckley’s incendiary voice is probably one of the few examples of Baroque-N-Roll. Bethany loves his cover version: “I think it’s very natural; funnily enough a lot of Baroque singers are big on singing with natural sound and a lot like [his] version of it because it’s so true to his voice.”
Devising methods of exposing the beauty of classical music to younger audiences is a perpetual challenge, but 'Dido and Aeneas' is perhaps the perfect choice for first timers wishing to make a foray into the genre; it is in English, it goes for an hour and director Nicholas Cannon has crafted a unique vision for the ancient work.
“He hasn’t set it in the traditional setting of Carthage and Ancient Rome; he’s basing it around the economic downfall of our world and what would happen if a big central city of the world, like Troy was at the time, actually crumbled and what would happen to the world? Dido is a leader, the moral fibre of the community, as opposed to a queen.”
Bethany remained tight lipped about the specific narrative, but she did rule out the zombie apocalypse. In addition to his artistic vision, Cannon has imparted his expertise in physical theatre to ensure that Dido’s story is reflected both through her voice and her body.
“He’s big on singers being very much actors and good movers as well; there’s no parking and barking in this.”
Bethany will be sharing the stage (or more accurately the round) with a cast of talented singers, including famed Opera Australia mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Campbell as the ill-intentioned Sorceress and the exquisitely skilled instrumentalists who comprise the Ensemble Galante.
“They draw their instrumentalists from a number of groups; the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra is probably the most notable one. They know how to improvise on a theme of music and they are going to bring that to this performance as well; so each performance will be maybe slightly different. They are also flying in a theorbo which is a really cool instrument; it is a lute with a really long fretboard. It makes a wonderful deep sound.”
The Purcell work has not been regularly performed by professional casts in South Australia. The State Opera of South Australia perhaps performed it in the 1970s. A performance of this scale outside of the auspices of state-funded bodies is a challenge, and audiences should reward such courage.
“We’ve had to apply for multiple [sources] of funding and are really working on the generosity of other organisations for this as well; we’ve had a lot of people helping out.”
