Erskine music department to present opera

DUE WEST, S.C. (November 13, 2009) -  Memorial Hall becomes an opera house at 8 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 20, when the Erskine College Music Department presents Dido & Aeneas, a 17th-century English opera by Henry Purcell. Admission is free.

The opera’s plot is based on the classical tale of the Trojan prince Aeneas and his brief sojourn in Carthage, where he captivates Queen Dido. He abandons her to proceed on his journey to found Rome, and she commits suicide in despair.

“The special impetus for this performance at Erskine is that 2009 is the 350th anniversary of Purcell’s birth,” Associate Professor of Music Dr. Brooks Kuykendall explained. “His music has been a special highlight all year long at international music festivals and concert series — and now, of course, that culminates in Due West.”

The project is a joint effort of Erskine’s chamber orchestra, Sinfonia, and several student vocalists. “It occurred to me that we have a really good group of singers around, and they could fill Purcell’s requirements,” Kuykendall said.

Aimée Dumouchel and Tom Wilson play the title characters; Elizabeth De Vault is Dido’s lady-in-waiting, Belinda; and Jeramy Oropeza plays the sorceress. The role of the sorceress is a female role, “one Purcell apparently wrote for a bass voice, maybe to emphasize a perversion of nature,” Kuykendall said.

Melanie Coleman, Elise Harbin, Rebecca King, Kensey McCroskey and Katherine McMullen round out the cast. Adjunct professors Lucie Svatonova and T.J. Ellis ’07 supervise staging and vocal direction.

“As a returning alumnus of the Erskine music department, I’m really excited to be a part of an opera like Dido & Aeneas and to realize that the department has grown so much over the past few years to accommodate such a production,” Ellis said. “There is a tremendous amount of talent in the cast and Professor Svatonova has done an excellent job directing and producing the opera.”

Oropeza agrees. “Working with this cast has been an absolute joy!” he said. “Professor Svatonova is an incredible director who is pulling out fantastic acting and singing from her cast, and is so easy to work with.”

Commenting on his own role as the sorceress, Oropeza said, “Who wouldn’t be thrilled to play a villain in one of the first modern operas?”

“I think this will be a milestone concert of sorts for the music department and the Erskine community will not want to miss it,” Ellis said.