DIDO AND AENEASHenry Purcell
Beautiful music in the excellent performance of the Orchestra and Chorus of the Ivan pl. Zajc CNT, with brilliant voices of the soloists (a true and beautiful «women’s» opera); the impressive mezzo-soprano Ivana Srbljan has rendered her Dido in a deeply moving and convincing way, the splendid soprano Morana Pleše as Belinda/First witch was her praiseworthy support; I wouldn’t fancy being a target to the mezzo-soprano Sonja Runje when she decides on her witchy woo plotting (Sorceress), while the tenor Marko Fortunato, managed to render most effectively his indecisive hero, the poor Aeneas.
Olga Vujović, Kritikaz
All of that has been brilliantly underlined by a coordinated stage movement and dance elements that accompany the rhythmic score. The director Mirva Koivukangas has animated each segment of the story, changing the ancient manuscript into a perfectly recognisable text of the universe – power, love, inner struggle and fear through metaphoric images.
Gloria Fabijanić Jelović, HRT Radio Rijeka
RUNNING TIME:
The performance lasts about 1 hour 20 minutes, with one interval after the first scene of Act II