Ignoti Dei and American Opera Theater - Farewell?

Reading the posts by Tim Smith on Clef Notes and Anne Midgette on Classical Beat, I take the sensation 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 call in my memory, whether under the call of American Opera House or their first iteration, Ignoti Dei Opera. As I look back, though, one product in detail that was a favourite 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 interpretation of the story is still on AOT's slate before their final season comes to a close. AOT's production was on the small degree of the Greenberg Theatre on Wisconsin Avenue in Washington, but it resonates in my mind as a large-scale production. If the set was so simple, the dwarf play through a vast white sheet in a pair of scenes was a powerful visual element. I've never disregarded the picture of the lovers lost in the wood as their shadows loomed back and forward on that shield against Cavalli's score. (It felt like a Baroque anticipation of the Royal Hunt and Surprise in Berlioz's opera on the same story, "Les Troyens".The orchestra in the pit for "La Didone" was another instance 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 other music, we still had a lirone (the bass member of another category 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 good as about of the musicians and lighting designer Kel Millionie. I trust we can see more of the AOT crew's work here in the future, if not below the pretext of AOT. Indeed, as I post, tenor Aaron Sheehan, Enea/Aeneas in "La Didone" and Acis in "Acis and Galatea", is preparing to talk with Pro Musica Rara tomorrow afternoon in Towson.Here is Tim Smith's post with links to data about AOT's remaining season.Director Tim Nelson continues to save his Yugen blog, but he has stirred it to another address. I've tried the new connection in my blog roll, but the feed won't work. I'll try again or include a link to the entire blog here later. [Later: The new Yugen is in the blog roll now, and the feed appears to be working.]