Dido Music Info: Ignoti Dei and American Opera Theater - Farewell?

Reading the posts by Tim Smith on Clef Notes and Anne Midgette on Classical Beat, I have the sense that American Opera Theater isn't quite going away. Director Tim Nelson might be focussing on his freelance director career and AOT as an entity might be folding, but it seems that the talent pool that went into AOT and the kinds of productions for which they were known will be back under other auspices.

Ground", "David et Jonathas", a notorious but different "Messiah", an inspired "Acis and Galatea" at the circus, last season's "Songspiel" production of Kurt Weill excerpts which anticipated a complete Weill work this season - these are the productions that name in my memory, whether under the name of American Opera House or their first iteration, Ignoti Dei Opera. As I look back, though, one product in particular that was a favorite for me was Cavalli's "La Didone" at the Washington Early Music Festival in June 2006. The opera is Cavalli and librettist Bussenello's 1641 rendition of the Dido and Aeneas story, and they went with what has been described as a Hollywood ending and kept Dido/Didone alive. (Purcell's own version of the narrative is silent on AOT's slate before their last season comes to a close. AOT's production was on the low point of the Greenberg Theatre on Wisconsin Avenue in Washington, but it resonates in my head as a large-scale production. If the set was so simple, the shadow play through a huge white sheet in a couple of scenes was a powerful visual element. I've never forgotten the image of the lovers lost in the woods as their shadows loomed back and forwards on that shield against Cavalli's score. (It felt like a Baroque anticipation of the Royal Hunt and Storm in Berlioz's opera on the same story, "Les Troyens".The orchestra in the pit for "La Didone" was another example of the company's ability to muster talent from afar and find musicians who played rare instruments. Here, besides the fairly familiar theorbo, viola da gamba and cornetto for admirers of early music, we even had a lirone (the bass member of another class of string instruments separate from the viol and violin families).Many of the singers who performed in that "La Didone" and other AOT shows still perform or teach in the Baltimore-Washington area, as well as most of the musicians and lighting designer Kel Millionie. I hope we can see more of the AOT crew's work here in the future, if not under the pretence of AOT. Indeed, as I post, tenor Aaron Sheehan, Enea/Aeneas in "La Didone" and Acis in "Acis and Galatea", is preparing to speak with Pro Musica Rara tomorrow afternoon in Towson.Here is Tim Smith's post with links to information about AOT's remaining season.Director Tim Nelson continues to deliver his Yugen blog, but he has moved it to another address. I've tried the new link in my blog roll, but the feed won't work. I'll try again or include a connection to the entire blog here later. [Later: The new Yugen is in the blog roll now, and the feed appears to be working.]