A note from the Director: Interpretation and Concept

Dido and Aeneas is not short of the elements of otherworldliness and heightened drama we know and love about early opera. But at its core, I see something subtle and human, which I think is unique for its time: this opera turns inwards, driven almost entirely by the emotional turmoil of its heroine and her intense fear of being forgotten. This, I think, is a universal fear which makes Dido’s final aria, with her repeated plea of, “Remember me”, so devastating. Unchecked and miscommunicated [“Grief increases by concealing”], such a fear can be a fount of paranoia and, indeed, psychosis. The words “Great minds against themselves conspire,” linger poignantly from the choir over Dido as the curtain drops. just before she dies.