Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626 Joyce DiDonato, Michael Spyres, Il pomo d'oro & Maxim Emelyanychev

• Henry Purcell (? - 1695): Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626:
• 1 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626: Overture 01:45
• Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 1:
• 2 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 1: "Shake the Cloud from off Your Brow" (Belinda) 00:34
• 3 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 1: "Banish Sorrow, Banish Care" (Chorus) 00:30
• 4 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 1: "Ah! Belinda, I Am Pressed with Torment" (Dido) 04:00
• 5 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 1: "Grief Increases by Concealing" (Belinda, Dido) 00:32
• 6 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 1: "When Monarchs Unite, How Happy Their State" (Chorus) 00:13
• 7 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 1: "Whence Could so Much Virtue Spring" (Dido, Belinda) 01:43
• 8 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 1: "Fear No Danger to Ensue" (Belinda, Attendant, Chorus) 01:28
• 9 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 1: "See, See Your Royal Guest Appears" (Belinda, Aeneas, Dido) 00:50
• 10 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 1: "Cupid Only Throws the Dart" (Chorus) 00:33
• 11 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 1: "If Not for Mine, for Empire’s Sake" - "Pursue Thy Conquest, Love" (Aeneas, Belinda) 01:13
• 12 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 1: "To the Hills and the Vales" (Chorus) 01:23
• 13 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 1: The Triumphing Dance 01:09
• Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 2:
• 14 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 2: Prelude for the Witches - "Wayward Sisters" - "Harm's Our Delight" - (Sorceress, First Witch, Chorus) 02:28
• 15 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 2: "The Queen of Carthage" - "Ho Ho Ho" (Sorceress, Chorus) 00:39
• 16 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 2: "Ruin’d Ere the Set of Sun" - "Ho Ho Ho" (First Witch, Second Witch, Sorceress, Chorus) 01:08
• 17 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 2: "But, Ere We This Perform" (First Witch, Second Witch) 01:08
• 18 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 2: "In Our Deep Vaulted Cell" (Chorus) 01:18
• 19 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 2: Echo Dance of the Furies 01:07
• 20 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 2: Ritornelle 00:33
• 21 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 2: "Thanks to These Lonesome Vales" (Belinda, Chorus) 02:47
• 22 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 2: "Oft She Visits This Loved Mountain" (Attendant) 01:50
• 23 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 2: "Behold, Upon My Bended Spear" (Aeneas, Dido) 00:33
• 24 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 2: "Haste, Haste to Town" (Belinda, Chorus) 00:42
• 25 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 2: "Stay, Prince!" (Spirit, Aeneas) 02:36
• Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 3:
• 26 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 3: "Come Away, Fellow Sailors" (Sailor, Chorus) 01:22
• 27 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 3: The Sailors' Dance 00:51
• 28 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 3: "See, See, the Flags and Streamers Curling" (Sorceress, First Witch, Second Witch) 00:59
• 29 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 3: "Our Next Motion Must Be to Storm" (Sorceress) 00:35
• 30 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 3: "Destruction’s Our Delight" (Chorus) 00:30
• 31 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 3: The Witches’ Dance 01:46
• 32 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 3: "Your Counsel, All Is Urg’d in Vain" (Dido, Belinda, Aeneas) 03:36
• 33 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 3: "But Death, Alas! I Cannot Shun" (Dido) 00:23
• 34 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 3: "Great Minds Against Themselves Conspire" (Chorus) 00:54
• 35 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 3: "Thy Hand, Belinda" (Dido) 00:58
• 36 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 3: Dido's Lament. "When I Am Laid In Earth" (Dido) 03:30
• 37 Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 3: "With Drooping Wings" (Chorus) 04:18
• Total Runtime 52:24

Info for Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626

Love and betrayal at its finest: The encounter between the Carthaginian queen Dido and the Trojan refugee Aeneas is one of the most famous love stories of all time, and no one has set it to music as poignantly as the English composer Henry Purcell in his opera "Dido and Aeneas." For many years, Joyce DiDonato has included "When I am laid in earth," the famous final verse, in her repertoire. On the new Erato complete recording of this Baroque masterpiece, she now sings the complete female title role for the first time. The expressive "baritenor" at her side: Michael Spyres, who sings Aeneas in this live recording made in 2024.

A kind of déjà vu, as the two American superstars appeared in the same roles (just with different music) in the 2017 Erato recording of Hector Berlioz's Les Troyens with the Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg and John Nelson. This time, Il pomo d'or, one of the world's most renowned early music ensembles, is on board. Under its musical director Maxim Emelyanychev, it illuminates the diversity of Baroque orchestral colors and, moreover, provides suspenseful moments with its outstanding choir. The other protagonists in this story of love, betrayal, and the forces of evil are also top-class. Fatma Said as Belinda, for example, delighted audiences and critics. Mezzo-soprano Beth Taylor, portraying the scheming sorceress, is no less impressive, with The Times declaring her a "brilliant performance of villainous delight."

"DiDonato utilizes the full velvety richness of her precious timbre, allowing the abandoned queen's suffering to reach her heart. Baritone Michael Spyres is an ideal partner, bringing the darker, muted side of his great voice to life in this role. Soprano Fatma Said sings a beguilingly beautiful Belinda, her soprano blending wonderfully with DiDonato's rich mezzo-soprano. The two witches are expressively interpreted by Alena Dantcheva and Anna Piroli. The Baroque ensemble Il Pomo d'Oro is rightly considered one of the leading ensembles for the music of this era. Conductor Maxim Emelyanychev delivers a dense, stylistically pure interpretation of Purcell's fragmentary score." (klassik-begeistert.​de)

Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano
Fatma Said, soprano
Michael Spyres, baritone
Hugh Cutting,countertenor
Beth Taylor, mezzo-soprano
Laurence Kilsby, tenor
Carlotta Colombo, soprano
Alena Dantcheva, soprano
Anna Piroli, soprano
Il pomo d'oro
Maxim Emelyanychev, direction

Il Pomo d'Oro
In the year 2022, the ensemble il Pomo d’Oro is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

Founded in 2012 by Giulio D’Alessio and Gesine Lübben, it soon established itself as an ensemble of outstanding quality in the field of historically informed performance. Il Pomo d’Oro looks back on 10 years of intense concert activity worldwide and an impressive list of 35 recordings, many of them award winning.

The ensemble is particularly known and sought after as a partner of singers, be it for solo recitals or entire operas in performance and recording. In 2022, il Pomo d’Oro is touring the new programs of Joyce DiDonato, EDEN, and Jakub Jozef Orlinski, Anima Eterna, led by the main conductors of the ensemble, Maxim Emelyanychev (chief conductor), and Francesco Corti (chief guest conductor). The last ‘opera’ production with a stellar cast was Handel’s oratorio Theodora in November 2021, presenting for the first time the new vocal ensemble il Pomo d’Oro. Further operas and oratorios, mainly by Handel, are scheduled for the coming seasons.

In the field of instrumental music, the ensemble focuses on projects with Maxim Emelyanychev conducting and Francesco Corti as soloist and conductor (Bach harpsichord concertos). Zefira Valova, the concert master of il Pomo d’Oro, also appears as a violin soloist in a new album with works by Benda, Graun a.o., soon to be released.

il Pomo d’Oro is official ambassador of El Sistema Greece, a humanitarian project to provide free musical education to children in Greek refugee camps.

The ‘il Pomo d’Oro Academy‘ was launched online during the first wave of the Covid 19 pandemic, offering free music lessons to music students worldwide.

The Academy is now collaborating with El Sistema Venezuela, offering online masterclasses in Baroque music interpretation in cooperation with the “Inocente Carreño Itinerant Conservatory” in Caracas to the Baroque music ensembles of the El Sistema movement.

In its future residence in Monte San Savino, Italy, the il Pomo d’Oro Academy will host instrumental and vocal masterclasses, workshops and musical education for children.

The name of the ensemble il Pomo d’Oro refers to Antonio Cesti’s opera from the year 1666. Composed to the wedding celebrations of Emperor Leopold I and Margarita Teresa of Spain, Il Pomo d’Oro was probably one of the largest, most expensive and most spectacular opera productions in the still young history of the genre. 24 different stage designs, a horse-ballet of 300 horses, a fireworks display of 73,000 rockets, numerous ‚special effects’ – superlatives, which should make the Emperor’s court the highlight of cultural splendor in Europe.

Maxim Emelyanychev
Chief conductor, Il Pomo d’Oro and principal conductor, Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

Shortly after his conducting debut at the age of 12, Maxim Emelyanychev was invited to conduct quite a few of the international baroque and symphonic orchestras in Russia. Then, in 2013, he became Principal Conductor of Il Pomo d’Oro and Principal Conductor of the Nizhny-Novgorod Soloists Chamber Orchestra.

In 2014, he made remarquable debut in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Sevilla Teatro de la Maestranza. These critically acclaimed performances were swiftly followed by a series of symphonic guest engagements all over Europe.

Highlights of the 2016/17 season featured a major international tour with Il Pomo d’Oro and Joyce DiDonato, his debut at the Opernhaus Zürich in Mozart’s Entführung aus dem Serail, and his debut at the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, which has led to three programmes a year.

In addition to his fourth visit to both the Toulouse National and the Real Orquesta Sinfonica de Sevilla, Maxim made in 2017/18 his debut with the following orchestras: Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, National de Lyon, Sinfonica di Milano LaVerdi, National de Belgique, National de Bordeaux and Saint-Petersburg Symphony.

An invitation to conduct the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in Schubert Symphony no.9 on a last-minute replacement led the enthused musicians to appoint him their new Principal Conductor, effective from the autumn of 2019. And on the very first days of his mandate as Principal Conductor, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra extended his contract until 2025.

The 2018/19 season included his debut with the Antwerpen Symphony, Netherlands Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony, Royal Philharmonic and Saint-Petersburg Philharmonic orchestras. Maxim also joined Il Pomo d’Oro for a three weeks tour of Asia and the Middle East with Joyce DiDonato.

He conducted the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at two of the major international opera institutions: the Glyndebourne Festival (Handel Rinaldo, with Jakub Orlinski in the title role) and the Royal Opera House (Handel Agrippina, with Joyce DiDonato in the title role). He returned to the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana and to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. Other engagements included the Berliner Konzerhausorchester, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the Real Orquesta Filarmonica de Gran Canaria and the Seattle Symphony.

Maxim’s 2020/21 engagements included the Geneva Grand Theatre in Mozart’s Clemenza di Tito and the Toulouse Théâtre du Capitole in Mozart’s Nozze di Figaro. Debuts with the Orchestre de Paris, the Atlanta Symphony, the Gulbenkian Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, the Belgian National Orchestra and the Luxembourg Philharmonic. His concerts with the Müchner Philharmoniker and the Swedish Radio Symphony have been postponed to 2022 due to Covid-19.

In August 2021 Maxim and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra were invited to the BBC Proms and to the Edinburgh International Festival, to which they return in 2022.

The highlights of his 2021/22 season see also his debut with some of the most prestigious international orchestras: Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, Toronto Symphony, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. They include returns to the Antwerp Symphony, the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and a European tour with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, followed by appearances to the Radio-France Montpellier Festival and the Edinburgh International Festival. A tour with il pomo d’oro presented Handel’s oratorio Theodora with Lisette Oropesa in the title role.

In 2022/23 Maxim will tour the US with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and will make his debut with the New Japan Philharmonic, the Osaka Kansai Philharmonic, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Helsinki Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and will return to the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and to the Royal Opera House in Mozart Magic Flute.

With il pomo d’oro Maxim will perform the new program of Joyce DiDonato, Eden, in Europe and the US. An instrumental program with il pomo d’oro is dedicated to Mozart symphonies.

Maxim was awarded in 2013 the Golden Mask for his participation in quality of harpsichordist to the stage production of Nozze di Figaro of the Perm Opera Theatre conducted by Teodor Currentzis (Sony Classical).

He was a recipient of the Young Talent Award 2019 in the Music Section of the Critics’ Circle.

The same year he was awarded an international Opera Award in the New Comer category.

Maxim has recorded quite a few CDs for Warner Classics/Erato at the head of Il Pomo d’Oro, among which Haydn symphonies and concertos an album with Haydn symphonies and concertos with Ricardo Minasi and In War and Peace, Harmony through music with Joyce DiDonato, CD which won the Gramophone Award 2017. For Warner Classics he has also recorded two albums with Il pomo d’oro and counter-tenor Jakub Orlinski: Facce d’Amore and Anima Sacra, as well as Handel’s opera Agrippina, with Joyce DiDonato in the title role, which won in 2020 the Gramophone Classical music Award in the Category ‚Opera‘. Eden, the new program of Joyce DiDonato with il pomo d’oro and Maxim conducting, will be released in 2022.

In 2019 his first CD with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in Schubert Symphony no.9 – the very symphony of his appointment as their Principal Conductor – was released on Linn Records and was awarded 5 ***** by The Guardian, The Times and The Scotsman. The label Aparté Music released in 2018 Maxim’s CD with Beethoven Symphony No. 3 and Brahms Haydn Variations with the Nizhny-Novgorod Soloists Chamber Orchestra. The same year was released Maxim’s first solo album of Mozart Sonatas on fortepiano which won a Choc de Classica 2018 and the ICMA 2019.

In 2021 Aparté Music released Emelyanychev’s CD of the Brahms Sonatas for piano and violin with violinist Aylen Pritchin.

Booklet for Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626