Saturday, October 15, 2016 • 8:00 P.M. CHAMBER CHOIR & BAROQUE ENSEMBLE Eric Esparza, conductor Jason J. Moy, director DePaul Concert Hall 800 West Belden Avenue • Chicago Saturday, October 15, 2016 • 8:00 P.M. DePaul Concert Hall Henry Purcell (1659-1695) Dido and Aeneas an opera in three acts Libretto by Nahum Tate A concert collaboration by DePaul Chamber Choir & Baroque Ensemble, with choreography by Lin Batsheva Kahn CHARACTERS & PERSONNEL In order of vocal appearance: BELINDA Margaret Schlofner DIDO Ashley Eason SECOND WOMAN Mary Kate vom Lehn AENEAS Andrew Groble SORCERESS Lauren Jacob FIRST WITCH Emily Margevich SECOND WITCH Megan Magsarili SPIRIT Sarah Szeszol SAILOR Daniel O’Hearn CONDUCTOR Eric Esparza CHOREOGRAPHER Lin Batsheva Kahn DANCERS Dana Alsamsam Cheyenne Blakely Rachael Fromkin Erin Miller CHAMBER CHOIR & BAROQUE ENSEMBLE • OCTOBER 15, 2016 CHARACTERS & PERSONNEL DEPAUL CHAMBER CHOIR Eric Esparza, conductor Michael McElvain, piano SOPRANOS BASS Madeline Ehlinger Jonathon Fishman Emily Margevich Andrew Groble Esther Rayo Andrew Hannau Margaret Schlofner Ian Hosack + Laura Smalley + Thomas P. Hughes + Elisabeth Sorensen Alexander Mark Sarah Szeszol + John Micensky + Angela Zúñiga Tyler Ricco + Andrew Saiz + Ryan Wolfe + ALTOS Connor Zuber Ashley Eason Daina Fischer Lauren Jacob DEPAUL BAROQUE ENSEMBLE Olivia Leone Jason Moy, director & harpsichord Megan Magsarili Erica Jacobs-Perkins, violin I Kelby Roth + Cody Hiller, violin II Liliana Schiller # Aleksa Kuzma, viola Mary Kate vom Lehm Francisco Malespin, cello Erik Andrusyak, oboe I TENORS Young Sun Yoo, oboe II Daniel Beatty + Quinn Delaney, bassoon Jesse Bockwinkel + Brandon Acker, theorbo & Kristopher Hansen baroque guitar * Daniel O’Hearn Michael McElvain, harpsichord * Brian O’Neill + Christopher O’Brien * guest + choral staff # choral librarian CHAMBER CHOIR & BAROQUE ENSEMBLE • OCTOBER 15, 2016 PROGRAM NOTES Sometimes called the ‘British Orpheus’, Henry Purcell is widely considered one of England’s foremost composers and perhaps most well-known today for his three-act opera, Dido and Aeneas. Born into a family of professional musicians, Purcell began his early training as a boy treble in the Chapel Royal of King Charles II. Spurred on by his immense musical talents and his family connections to the British royalty, Purcell became organist at Westminster Abbey and Court Composer to several English monarchs (Charles II, James II, and William and Mary) before his untimely death at the age of 36. Though Arts and Politics are inextricably linked in any era, this was especially true for Purcell, whose musical ascendency was closely tied to the increasing popularity of Restoration era English theatre, which had been banned by Oliver Cromwell’s regime after the Puritan Revolution of 1642, along with other forms of ‘wicked’ and ‘immoral’ public entertainment. London still lacked a public opera house at this time, so Purcell became heavily involved in writing incidental music for plays and masques such as The Fairy Queen, King Arthur, and Dioclesian, which enjoyed tremendous success in the city’s burgeoning public theatres. As Purcell’s sole surviving contribution to the fully staged operatic genre, Dido and Aeneas uniquely illustrates the young composer’s impeccable flair for dramatic and emotional pacing. With his librettist Nahum Tate, Purcell recasts the famous story of Aeneas’s Carthiginian exploits, as originally told in Virgil’s Aeneid, from the perspective of Dido and her courtly retinue. Instead of a mere supporting character in one of Aeneas’s many adventures, Dido is seen here as a strong and proud queen, torn between desire and duty, on a tumultuous emotional journey that ultimately leads to her destruction. The opera’s moralistic overtones would not have been lost on its very first audiences –Dido and Aeneas received its premiere at a boarding school for girls in Chelsea, run by the English dancing master Josias Priest. Seeing the death and destruction suffered by Dido at the hands of her fickle lover may have given more than one of these refined young ladies pause to consider the potentially disastrous effects of an ill-advised dalliance. CHAMBER CHOIR & BAROQUE ENSEMBLE • OCTOBER 15, 2016 SYNOPSIS The opera takes place in and around Carthage, the capital of an ancient empire encompassing what is now Tunisia in Northern Africa. Its recently widowed and mourning queen, Dido (also known colloquially as Elissa), has vowed publicly to never love or marry again when the Trojan prince, Aeneas, the son of Venus and the Trojan nobleman Anchises, is suddenly shipwrecked on her shores while en route to fulfill his divine destiny as the founder of the Roman Empire. Dido receives him and his unfortunate sailors, and the pair becomes instantly smitten, which brings us to our opening scene: Act I Dido’s confidante, Belinda, and her handmaidens try desperately to cheer their distracted and tormented queen, who is torn between her love for Aeneas and her need to uphold her vow for honor and duty’s sake. Her courtiers encourage her to give in to her desires and unify the kingdoms of Carthage and Troy through marriage when Aeneas enters with his entourage to declare his love and plead his case before Dido. The spectre of gloom is momentarily dispelled as the royal couple and assembled guests head to the woods for a spirited hunt. Act II In a scene reminiscent of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, three witches observe the events unfolding at court from their cave, and vow to bring about Dido’s ruin for no reason other than their hatred of “all in pros’prous State”. The head Sorceress devises a plot to send one of her underlings in the guise of the god Mercury to spur Aeneas’s departure, and conjures up a storm to literally rain on the royal hunting party’s parade, to the immense delight of the cackling coven of witches. At a nearby grove, the hunting party is treated to dances and entertainment by Belinda and one of Dido’s handmaidens, who reenacts the tale of Acteon, a mythological hunter who unwittingly gazes upon the goddess Diana bathing in a stream and is turned into a stag and devoured by his own hounds as punishment. When a furious burst of lightning and thunder from the Sorceress’s tempest sends the whole retinue hastily back to town to seek shelter, the image of Mercury descends from the heavens to chide Aeneas for disobeying Jove’s commands and directs him to hurry along to Rome where his destiny awaits. CHAMBER CHOIR & BAROQUE ENSEMBLE • OCTOBER 15, 2016 SYNOPOSIS Act III The port is bustling with activity as Aeneas’s sailors scramble to outfit their ships and get underway. A lusty sailor drives home the moral of the story by exhorting his companions to “take a boozy short leave of your nymphs on the shore, and silence their mourning with vows of returning though never intending to visit them more.” The smug Sorceress and her witches arrive to observe the disarray they’ve wrought, and vow to conjure up a storm at sea to further torment Aeneas, as they derive great pleasure from “the ruin of others.” The tragedy reaches its zenith with the entrance of Dido and her retinue; Aeneas tries in vain to soothe her distress (and assuage his own guilt) by promising to disregard Jove’s commands and remain at her side, but the grief-stricken queen will have nothing more to do with her inconstant lover. With nothing more to say, Aeneas departs, leaving Dido to lament her unlucky fate before killing herself. A NOTE ON THE PERFORMANCE Tonight’s semi-staged production of Purcell’s masterpiece represents the most ambitious collaboration to date between the Theatre School at DePaul University and DePaul University School of Music, showcasing the work of two student ensembles from the School of Music – the DePaul Chamber Choir and Baroque Ensemble – and students of dancer/choreographer and Theatre School faculty member Lin Kahn. The choreography brings Purcell’s masterpiece to life by capturing the essence of the emotional states in the unfolding story of Dido and Aeneas, with the dramatic highs and lows of the baroque drama expressed through contemporary dance. Notes by Jason Moy. CHAMBER CHOIR & BAROQUE ENSEMBLE • OCTOBER 15, 2016 BIOGRAPHIES Eric Esparza is the Director of Choral Activities and Vocal Area Coordinator at DePaul University, where he conducts the DePaul Chamber Choir, Concert Choir, and teaches courses in Choral Music. Dr. Esparza is also the Artistic Director of Windy City Performing Arts. Previously, he served on the music faculty of Sam Houston State University School as conductor of the Concert Choir, and teacher of voice, diction, and music theory. Dr. Esparza was also the Founder, Artistic Director, and Conductor of International Voices Houston, Artistic Director of the United Nations Association International Choir, and Director of Ministries at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas. Originally from San Antonio, Texas, he holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston, Texas, where he studied with Dr. Joyce Farwell and Maestro Thomas Jaber. He also holds a Master of Arts degree in Arts Administration from Florida State University where, he was a University Fellow and served as Assistant Conductor of the Florida State University Opera. Dr. Esparza earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting from Boston University, where he studied with Dr. Ann Howard Jones. He remains active internationally as a singer, conductor, and music editor. Lin Batsheva Kahn is on the faculty at DePaul University where she created and teaches 3 original courses for The Theatre School and “Creativity and Adversity: Psychology, Religious Thought and the Fine/Performing Arts” in the department of Psychology. Nominated for the DePaul Excellence in Teaching Award and Chicago Tribune’s Remarkable Women in 2016, she was also named Jewish Chicagoan of the Year and one of 100 Women of Inspiration from Today’s Chicago Woman in 2014.