Five new singers will join Sestina early music ensemble for its upcoming production of Dido and Aeneas.

Finding and developing young singers has been a key part of the ensemble’s mission since its founding, as Musical Director Mark Chambers explains:

Sestina has developed beyond anything we could have imagined five years ago. The projects may be getting more ambitious, but the focus is most definitely on finding and nurturing young singers.

For Dido, the ensemble will be joined by sopranos Rebecca Murphy and Caroline McCartney (who is 15), altos Rachel Clarke and Caroline Dalzell, and tenor Robin Horgan. ‘Dido’ in the tragic Purcell opera will be played by Laura Lamph, ‘Aeneas’ by Brian McAlea, ‘Belinda’ by Fiona Flynn, and ‘Sorceress’ by Aaron O’Hare. Choreography is by Bridget Madden and the Director is Thomas Guthrie. 

The short opera, composed in the 1680s, is being programmed alongside Pysche by Matthew Locke, a short dramatical work first performed in 1675. 

Chambers comments,

Psyche itself presents a series of allegorical characters – Venus, Apollo, Envy – and has an incredible ‘Dialogue for Despairing Lovers’, which finishes with the words ‘only Death can cure our Misery’ which could be almost a subtext for the entirety of Dido and Aeneas.

Last September, Sestina performed a concert of works by Bach in Dublin, Mein Freund is Mein, and in April 2015 performed Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 in Armagh, Dublin and Belfast. The ensemble, which is supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, also recently received a ‘Sustained Partnership’ award from Arts & Business NI for its patronage partnership with the company Exitex and Mark Allport.

Mark and his wife Oonagh took a great interest in Aaron [O’Hare] and his development as a singer and attended his final recital at the University of Ulster. I met them both and we also became friends. When the young singers of Sestina decided they wanted to put a concert on, Mark and Oonagh came to support and after offered to help us. It began with hiring just two players at first and has developed into what you see now.

Dido and Aeneas by Sestina takes place on 1st (The Glassworks, Derry), 2nd (Ulster Hall, Belfast) and 3rd April (Church of the Sacred Heart, Newry). Watch a video of Mark Chambers introducing the work below.

For full details on all three performances, visit http://goo.gl/1OkgER