Opera Lafayette’s Dido and Aeneas – Photo: Jennifer Packard
“It’s a great first opera,” Patrick Dupre Quigley says of Dido and Aeneas, currently in the midst of its Opera Lafayette debut. “And it’s an opera that has survived in reasonably constant performance since it was first done in the 17th century.”
The English Baroque work, composed by Henry Purcell with a libretto by Nahum Tate, runs a brisk, intermissionless 65 minutes. “It has one of the most well-known English-language arias of all time,” Quigley notes.
That aria — “When I Am Laid in Earth” — is sung by Dido over “what we call a ground bass, which means it’s basically a bassline that repeats over and over and over again, and different music is placed on top of it for the three and a half minutes of the aria,” Quigley says.
At Opera Lafayette, the aria is performed by soprano Mary Elizabeth Williams, whom Quigley calls “one of the great stars of the world of American opera.”
Set in an all-girls’ school, the opera is based on a story from Virgil’s epic poem The Aeneid.
“Dido, Queen of Carthage, receives the wandering Trojan Prince Aeneas into her court and they fall in love,” explains Quigley. “But in this version of the story — the version from late 17th-century England — an evil malevolent sorceress causes Aeneas to believe that he’s being called on to continue his searches to restore ruined Troy.
Patrick Dupre Quigley – Photo Courtesy Opera Lafayette
“Dido is crushed by this. After falling in love and having a brief moment of happiness and fulfillment, she builds her own funeral pyre and commits suicide upon it. So it starts light and ends up pretty heavy.”
Elijah McCormack, who is transgender, plays Aeneas, and, says Quigley, “he’s marvelous. It’s an incredibly powerful performance.” McCormack sings the role as a male soprano.
“The role of Aeneas is usually sung by a high baritone or low tenor,” Quigley explains. “But we decided that we would try to do it the way it was done originally. So all of the parts — except for one, the sorceress [bass-baritone Hans Tashjian] — are being sung by high voices.”
Dido and Aeneas marks Quigley’s first production as Opera Lafayette’s new artistic director, succeeding founder Ryan Brown.
“I have been the artistic director designate for the past two years,” he says. “So I’ve been able to do some planning and be familiar with the organization. And in opera, nothing gets done overnight.” His inaugural season will continue with Queen of Hearts in February and New Woman in April.
“We primarily work with music from the 17th to the 19th centuries,” he says of the 30-year-old company. “And the hallmark of all of our performances is that our orchestra is made up of musicians who play on period instruments that are either from or copies of the instruments that they used to play in the 17th or 18th century. The violin played in the modern symphony orchestra is not the same instrument as the one played at the time that Henry Purcell or Mozart or Beethoven wrote their music.
“So it is a sound that is very rich,” he continues, “but also has a directness. It’s warm. The sound was not designed for such large rooms as a 2,000-seat hall. It was made to be experienced in a much more intimate setting. And most of the productions that we put on are considerably more intimate than what the Metropolitan Opera is doing. You can see people’s faces, you’re sitting closer, you have a more direct connection with both the singer and the orchestra.”
Dido and Aeneas will be performed in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, Oct. 18, at 7:30 p.m. at Sixth & I, 600 I St. NW. The New York City performance follows on Monday, Oct. 20, at El Museo del Barrio, 1230 Fifth Avenue, also at 7:30 p.m. For tickets, visit operalafayette.org/dido.
The year's nearly out. Sometimes that calls for taking sweet stock of the past months' wonderful events. Coming to the end of 2025, on the other hand, is more like getting to that denouement in the action movie where the survivors take a breath and pat each other on the back for having made it out alive. At this stage, we are Newt getting tucked-in to her Sulaco hibernation tube.
With some effort and a pinch of luck, may we all fare better in 2026 than poor Newt's end at the start of Alien 3.
Why such a shitty year? So much of it, obviously, can be laid at the feet of Lame Duck Donald. Not that he hasn't had loads of assistance in his evil efforts to erase our transgender family and friends, colleagues, and leaders during 2025. The purge, as promised, began right out of the gate on Inauguration Day.
The Capital Pride Alliance is moving the 2026 Capital Pride celebration to the third week of June -- one week later than usual -- to avoid overlapping with major events tied to President Donald Trump's June 14 birthday and preparations for the nation's 250th anniversary. Pride weekend will run June 20-21, with the parade on Saturday and the festival and concert on Sunday.
Last year, the Trump administration marked the president's birthday and the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Armed Forces with a downtown military parade. This year, all national parks will offer free entry on June 14, and the White House is expected to host several Ultimate Fighting Championship matches on the White House lawn to draw large crowds for Trump's 80th birthday and the country's Semiquincentennial celebrations.
A federal judge has sentenced Ruby Corado, the founder and former executive director of the now-shuttered D.C. nonprofit Casa Ruby, to 33 months in federal prison for wire fraud -- a punishment that could ultimately lead to her deportation from the United States, despite her status as a legal permanent resident.
On January 13, U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden granted federal prosecutors’ request for a more severe sentence, exceeding the 15-21 months recommended under federal sentencing guidelines.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia argued that Corado betrayed the trust of Casa Ruby’s clients by transferring $200,000 to personal offshore bank accounts in her native El Salvador, held under her birth name, for what prosecutors said was the purpose of enriching herself.
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
You must be logged in to post a comment.