When I was a child, I hated it when adults spoke or behaved differently towards me because of my age. In fact, one of the first performances of Dido and Aeneas was at Josias Priest’s school for girls in London – and that was in 1689. My view is: if you like opera, why wouldn’t a young person like it just the same? Most of us don’t have ladies in waiting, but we do all have families of one kind or another, so by looking at Belinda in this way Dido also becomes the story of a single parent who makes bad relationship choices. What I find so extraordinary about Purcell’s work, opera, and art in general: that humans have done these things and that it is about being human.

Source: The Guardian May 14, 2019 15:22 UTC