The Malaspina Choir will be celebrating Empire Days with Passionately Purcell!, a concert featuring works of the British composer, at the Port Theatre May 21, at 2:30 pm.
The highlight of the concert is a vocal performance of Henry Purcell's brilliant opera, Dido and Aeneas, which, composed in 1689, is still considered to be Britain's greatest opera.
A co-production with the Victoria Chamber Orchestra, led by maestro Yariv Aloni, the opera has eight superb soloists, seven of them from the Malaspina Choir.
Victoria soprano Nancy Washeim sings the role of the lovelorn Dido, whose tragic lament is famed in opera, while Malaspina Choir conductor Wade Noble performs the role of Dido's lover, Aeneas. Soprano Liz Lutz plays Belinda, Dido's devoted companion. Also on the bill is a performance of Purcell's O Sing Unto the Lord.
Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for students and seniors, and are available from the Port Theatre ticket centre, 754-8550.