Venus and Adonis (1683)

JOHN BLOW, COMPOSER

ANNE KINGSMILL FINCH, LIBRETTIST

Opera Lafayette opens its 25th-anniversary season featuring the 21st-century’s next generation of leadership in early music and dance. These brilliant young artists present Venus and Adonis, the French-inspired chamber opera which prefigured Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. In librettist Anne Kingsmill Finch’s version of this pastoral myth, Venus, the goddess of Love, encourages her lover Adonis to heed the call of the hunt, which he does only reluctantly. Created for the English court, where Venus was played by the king’s mistress and Cupid by their daughter, this ultimately tragic tale is interspersed with humorous scenes that poke fun of courtiers while extolling the virtues of shepherds and true love.

Performances sung in English.

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PRESENTING

Artistic Team

Thomas Dunford, Guest Music Director
Julia Bengtsson*, Choreographer / Stage Director
Anna Kjellsdotter*, Costumes

Cast

Lea Desandre, Venus
Douglas Williams, Adonis
Sarah Shafer*, Cupid
Cupids, Hunters: Véronique Filloux, Daniel Moody*, Patrick Kilbride, and Jonathan Woody

Dancers

Julia Bengtsson
Matthew Ting*

Musicians

Thomas Dunford, lute and continuo
Loretta O’Sullivan, cello and continuo
Violaine Cochard*, harpsichord, continuo
Ryan Brown and Jacob Ashworth, violins
Kyle Miller, viola
Anthony Manzo, bass
Nina Stern, recorder
Meg Owens, oboe and recorder

*Opera Lafayette Debut

Performed

Washington, DC:
November 21 & 23, 2019
Flagg Building, Corcoran School of the Arts & Design

New York City:
November 22, 2020
El Museo Del Barrio

Explore more performances from Opera Lafayette past seasons.