Opera workshop presents Dido and Aeneas

SAN MARCOS — The Opera Workshop will present Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas 8 p.m. Oct. 22-23 at the University Performing Arts and Conference Center at Texas State University-San Marcos.

Under the direction of Cina Crisara, D.M.A., the Texas State School of Music production will feature both undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in the opera workshop class. Admittance to the class is by audition only, and serves to provide singers with performance opportunities as well as to teach movement and acting for opera, and to allow the study of opera repertoire and literature that students will encounter throughout their careers. Chamber musicians from the Texas State Symphony and dancers from the Orchesis Dance Company will also perform.

The opera, noted as the first “truly great” opera composed by an Englishman, is set in Carthage just after the fall of Troy. The libretto, written by English poet laureate Nahum Tate, is based on Book IV of Virgil's Aeneid. The story is heavily rooted in Greek mythology and features all of the essential elements of tragic opera: love, loss, sorcery, drama, passion and death. Dido and Aeneas originally premiered in London in 1689, appearing in New York in 1924, and has remained a staple of opera companies worldwide ever since.

Tickets cost $5 for general admission and $3 for students. For more information, call (512) 245-3046.