14 October – 5 November

Artistic Director Deborah Warner and Music Director Richard Hetherington introduce opera to the intimate Ustinov Studio for the first time with a new production of Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas appearing from Friday 14^th October to Saturday 5^th November, directed by Isabelle Kettle.

Written around 1668, Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas has become a mainstay of the operatic repertoire containing music and arias of astonishing beauty that are known and loved throughout the world. The opera tells the story of Dido, the widowed Queen of Carthage, and her lover the Trojan prince, Aeneas, shipwrecked on his way to Italy, where he will found a new Troy. Dido’s tragic response to her ultimate betrayal by Aeneas inspired Purcell to write one of the most beloved arias, “When I Am Laid In Earth”.

Award-winning New Zealand soprano Madison Nonoa plays Dido alongside Dominic Bowe, whose credits range from Glyndebourne Festival to Royal Academy Opera, as Aeneas. The cast also features mezzo-soprano Georgia Mae Bishop, winner of the 2022 Mastersingers Wagner Competition, as Sorceress; soprano Ella Taylor as Belinda and Second Witch; soprano Lauren Lodge-Campbell as First Witch and Attendant; tenor Richard Pinkstone as Sailor and baritone Hugo Herman-Wilson and bass-baritone Ben Knight as Bass Chorus.

The creative team for Dido and Aeneas comes to Bath from the Royal Opera House. Isabelle Kettle is a director of opera and theatre, who has worked in the UK, New York and France. She was the 2019-21 Jette Parker Young Artist Stage Director at the Royal Opera House where her credits include a double bill of Brecht and Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins and Mahagonny Songspiel, conducted by Michael Papadopoulos (ROH Main Stage) and Handel’s Susanna (ROH Linbury Theatre).

Michael Papadopoulos, Musical Director for Dido and Aeneas, will play harpsichord and lead an ensemble of musicians featuring Elizaveta Saul and Aliayta Foon-Dancoes (violin), Miguel Sobrinho (viola) and Findlay Spence (cello and continuum).

Michael Papadopoulos, named Rising Star in the March 2020 edition of BBC Music Magazine, is an alumnus of the Royal Opera House’s Jette Parker Young Artist Programme. Earlier this year, he conducted the Britten Sinfonia in a production of Mavra and Pierrot lunaire at the Linbury Theatre. With the orchestra of the Royal Opera House, he has conducted a gala concert, Isabelle Kettle’s production of Seven Deadly Sins and Mahagonny Songspiel, and excerpts from Madama Butterfly and Lucrezia Borgia in the annual Jette Parker summer showcase concerts.

Designer Hyemi Shin’s recent work includes The Return of Ulysses at the Royal Opera House, The Damnation of Faust at Glyndebourne in 2019 and Samson et Delilah at the Royal Opera House. Movement director and choreographer is Alex Gotch with lighting design by Simon Bennison.

Deborah Warner’s inaugural season as Artistic Director at the Ustinov Studio got off to a thrilling start this summer with new productions of Shakespeare’s The Tempest followed by Phaedra/Minotaur.

Deborah Warner CBE is a British director working internationally in theatre and opera. In the UK, she has directed productions for the National Theatre, English National Opera, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne, Opera North, Barbican, Old Vic, Almeida Theatre and London’s West End. She has twice won the Olivier Award for Best Director.

Dido and Aeneas appears at the Ustinov Studio at the Theatre Royal Bath from Friday 14^th October to Saturday 5^th November. Tickets are on sale at the Theatre Royal Bath Box Office on 01225 448844 and online at www.theatreroyal.org.uk/ustinov