La Follia Austin Baroque presents “Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas: A Miniature Operatic Masterpiece”

La Follia begins its 2015-2016 season in spectacular fashion with a dramatized concert performance of Henry Purcell’s operatic masterpiece Dido and Aeneas, with superstar Jennifer Lane in the role of Dido.

Saturday, September, 12, 2015, 8 PM at First Presbyterian Church

Sunday, September, 13, 2015, 4 PM at First Presbyterian Church

Pre-purchase tickets online at lafollia.org or at the door:

$30 general, $25 senior, $10 student.

Information at (512) 879-6404 and lafollia.org

Dido and Aeneas is arguably the first English opera and certainly one of the greatest – as notably acknowledged by Benjamin Britten, who knew a thing or two about English opera. Running only a little over an hour, it nonetheless packs an emotional wallop with nobility, destiny, passion, trickery, betrayal, and (of course) death set to the most beautiful music imaginable.

Joining Ms. Lane is a stellar cast featuring Brett Barnes as Aeneas, Meredith Ruduski as Belinda, Jenifer Thyssen as the second woman, Nick Zammit as the Spirit, and Jeffrey-Jones Ragona as the Sailor.  Add to that a Baroque chorus and the La Follia chamber orchestra, and you have the makings for an operatic feast.