Purcell’s Dioclesian

This March, we’re pleased to be offering a rare chance to see the work that made the operatic career of Henry Purcell. While his earlier work Dido and Aeneas was a flop, Purcell’s semi-opera The Prophetess, or the History of Dioclesian was a great success, and led to commissions for King Arthur and then The Fairy Queen. The sumptuous and varied music (The New Grove Dictionary of Opera) offers a stream of instrumental and vocal highlights as we are led through the life of the emperor Dioclesian. This concert performance will include baroque dance sequences. This performance is dedicated to the memory of Douglas Craig who died last year at the age of 93. Douglas was Director of Opera at the Royal College of Music between 1977 and 1980, and enjoyed a distinguished career as singer, producer and director with many great British opera institutions including Opera for All, Sadler’s Wells, Glyndebourne, London Opera Centre and WNO.