The story of Dido and Aeneas didn’t end with Dido’s death. Discover what happened next and how memories wield a power all of their own, as composer Errollyn Wallen continues the tale, interweaving a full performance of Purcell’s great operatic tragedy within her own brilliant new opera.

Belize-born British composer Errollyn Wallen has written pop and jazz-influenced songs alongside contemporary classical music and her reimagining of Parry’s Jerusalem was heard at last year’s Last Night of the Proms. Her arresting new opera, with a libretto by Wesley Stace, stars South African soprano Golda Schultz as Dido and is staged by British director Frederic Wake-Walker.

Under the leadership of scholar and Baroque music authority John Butt, the Dunedin Consort is Scotland’s own early music ensemble, renowned for bringing ancient sounds into the present day and rediscovering familiar music in new and surprising ways.

Dido’s Ghost reframes, illuminates and expands Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas, which exists in its entirety as a flashback within Wallen’s new drama. Performed on period instruments, Dido’s Ghost bridges the gap between worlds, as past blurs into present, and memory becomes emotion, in a new blending of ancient and modern.

Co-commissioned by Edinburgh International Festival, Dunedin Consortand Mahogany Opera, the Barbican Centre, Buxton International Festival and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale

Supported by
James and Morag Anderson