Opera Collective Ireland and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin present The War of Love in Baroque Opera as part of the exciting Kammeroper Festival at Schloss Rheinsberg. Performing two of the most stunning early operas – John Blow’s Venus and Adonis and Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell – this semi-staged production, showcasing the best of Irish operatic vocal talent, will be directed by Patrick Mason and conducted by Christian Curnyn and take place in the extraordinary 250-year-old theatre at Schloss Rheinsberg as part of the international festival, Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg 2024. The company is led by soprano Anna Devin as Venus, soprano Aebh Kelly as Dido, and baritone Rory Musgrave as both Adonis and Aeneas.
Performances:
09.08, 10.08 (both 19.30), and 11.08 (15.30)– English language with German subtitles.
(There will be a special train for the return trip to Berlin on 09. and 10.08.)
Opera Collective Ireland’s mission is to elevate Ireland’s next generation of operatic talent by producing quality productions that provide valuable performance opportunities in major roles, a nurturing work environment and national exposure to enhance their career progression.
Nominated at the Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards (ITITA) for Best Opera for The Rape of Lucretia (2014) the Opera Collective Ireland also won the Dublin Fringe Best Production award for Handel’s Agrippina (2015). For the 2022 production of Handel’s Semele (with Kilkenny Arts Festival/Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin) they were nominated for Best Director (Patrick Mason), Best Costume Designer (Catherine Fay), Best Lighting (Paul Keoghan) and Best Opera.
The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin (Akamus) celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2022. Founded in Berlin in 1982, the ensemble is now one of the world’s leading chamber orchestras playing historically informed music. For over 35 years, the orchestra has been playing a subscription series at the Konzerthaus Berlin. and has repeatedly demonstrated its versatility with exciting concert projects and musical voyages of discovery, including in New York, Tokyo, London and Buenos Aires.
Resurgam was founded in 2003 by Mark Duley, and is one of Ireland’s most acclaimed vocal ensembles. Resurgam is the premiere project-based professional choir in the country, and many of its singers have parallel careers as soloists. It inspires audiences and partner choirs the length and breadth of Ireland, bringing alive the emotional drama found in so much vocal music, especially that of the seventeenth century.