Dido and Aeneas, Penrith Methodist Church

Introducing Purcell's Dido and Aeneas to an Eden audience was the concept of music undergraduate Joe Davies who conducted and, together with Persia Babayan-Taylor, co-produced it. Until very recently Joe attended Queen Elizabeth Grammar School at Penrith; Persia was a student at Appleby Grammar School.

Dido, a gem of an opera, has a simple story of love thwarted by wicked deception, ending in tragedy, and lasts just over one hour. But what emotion and what beautiful music is packed into that short time! What was remarkable about this performance was that virtually every person involved, on or off stage or in the orchestra of twelve, is still a student, not necessarily of music, and in some cases still at school, yet the result felt professional. Joe's conducting held everything together well, each scene following seamlessly. Of the musicians the cellist and harpsichordist deserve particular praise. Myrna Tennant (Dido, Queen of Carthage) sang beautifully and with excellent stage presence. Her voice has a purity of tone most appropriate to the role. Peter Law was a worthy Aeneas with a strong voice and clear diction. Dido's two attendants, a sorceress and her two witches, and the minor tenor role of sailor/spirit were all convincingly portrayed with good acting and use of the stage, as well as some lovely singing particularly in duet. The chorus of eight men had demanding music to master, and so sang from their scores, reducing their dramatic impact, but nevertheless sounding good. Director Matthew Edwards wanted to emphasise the human emotions of the title characters, and indeed their growing love, Aeneas' terrible dilemma and their parting followed by Dido's grief were convincing. Dido's final lament, When I am laid in earth, was most movingly done with wonderful control. I look forward to future ventures. Congratulations to all!

Juliet Rowcroft