Purcell
Dido & Aeneas
Sydney Opera House13–29 March 2025
Purcell
Dido & Aeneas
Sydney Opera House13–29 March 2025
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See All Events2025
March
13 Mar 2025
15 Mar 2025
18 Mar 2025
20 Mar 2025
22 Mar 2025
25 Mar 2025
29 Mar 2025
Venue
Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House
Bennelong Point, Sydney
Language
Performed in English with English surtitles.
Running time
Approximately 70 minutes with no interval
Please note
This production contains depictions of nudity and haze effects.
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Opera Australia presents Opera Queensland’s production of Dido & Aeneas in association with Circa.
A passionate love story.
A hero bound by fate.
A lover left behind.
Dido & Aeneas is a love story for the ages. Bringing together exhilarating acrobatics and extraordinary music, this production is an opera for today.
Aeneas is a hero caught between his destiny and desire. Dido is the woman he must leave behind. For these star-crossed lovers, fate and romance are on a collision course, and when the smoke clears, Dido’s heart is found among the wreckage.
Purcell’s early opera gave the world one of the most poignant scores ever written and laid the foundation for every opera that came after.
Now, experience the power of Dido & Aeneas in a new staging from Circa Artistic Director Yaron Lifschitz, which sets “a new benchmark for opera production in Australia ” (Limelight). Expect jaw-dropping physical feats from Circa’s talented ensemble alongside stunning voices in this follow-up to last year’s sell-out success Orpheus & Eurydice. Libby McDonnell’s glamorous costumes are chic creations of luxe materials and strong silhouettes, and Lifschitz has created a stark, slick set.
It’s always a delight to welcome a rising star home, and we have two in this production: tenor Nicholas Jones is currently a principal artist with Opéra national de Paris and mezzo soprano Anna Dowsley returns to sing Dido after great success overseas. Hear her perform as the doomed Queen of Carthage and sing her famous lament ‘When I am Laid in Earth’.
“A new benchmark for opera production in Australia. ★★★★★”
Limelight
Dido & Aeneas, first produced by Opera Queensland in association with Circa, at QPAC (2024)
Photographer: David Kelly
Dido & Aeneas, first produced by Opera Queensland in association with Circa, at QPAC (2024)
Photographer: David Kelly
Dido & Aeneas, first produced by Opera Queensland in association with Circa, at QPAC (2024)
Photographer: David Kelly
Dido & Aeneas, first produced by Opera Queensland in association with Circa, at QPAC (2024)
Photographer: David Kelly
Dido & Aeneas, first produced by Opera Queensland in association with Circa, at QPAC (2024)
Photographer: David Kelly
Dido & Aeneas, first produced by Opera Queensland in association with Circa, at QPAC (2024)
Photographer: David Kelly
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Cast & Creative
Conductor
Director & Stage Designer
Costume Designer
Lighting Designer
Dido/Sorceress
Aeneas
Belinda
Second Lady
First Witch/Spirit 'Mercury'/Sailor
Opera Australia Orchestra
Opera Australia Chorus
Circa Ensemble
Erin Helyard appears courtesy of Pinchgut Opera.
Cheat Sheet: Dido & Aeneas
A cheat's guide to Purcell’s Trojan War tragedy.
What happens in the story? Who was the composer? What should I expect from the music? Here’s everything you need to know…
Opera Australia presents Opera Queensland’s production of Dido & Aeneas in association with Circa.