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Dido & Aeneas and 500 years of English Choral Gems

Sat. March 14th 2026 St. Mary's Anglican Church Oak Bay BC $11-$36

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Dido & Aeneas and 500 years of English Choral Gems

Victoria Philharmonic Choir sings English music, from Purcell to the present.
Event can be attended in person In-Person Event
Music Classical / Baroque / Orchestral Choral
Sat. March 14th 2026 + Add to Calendar St. Mary's Anglican Church (All Ages)
7:30pm - 9:15pm  Doors at: 7:00pm $36 regular, $11 student (plus fees)

Artists

Peter Butterfield (conductor)

Event Description

The Victoria Philharmonic Choir, conducted by Peter Butterfield, presents some top crown jewels of the English choral tradition, from the country's earliest known opera to the present time.

Dido & Aeneas, set to music in the 1680s by baroque composer Henry Purcell, is a tragic love story from Virgil's epic, The Aeneid. The Queen of Carthage falls for a heroic Trojan Prince, but their union is doomed by duty, ambition, and a mean spell placed on them by interfering witches. Purcell's music is full of incredible maturity for the 19 year old composer, and the closing aria, Dido's lament, is especially well known. A song so bleakly beautiful it is regularly performed at present-day Remembrance Day ceremonies in the UK. The VPC and soloists are accompanied by a chamber orchestra, featuring period instrument specialists, including Douglas Hensley on theorbo.

The second half of the evening skips here and there in several other centuries of the repertoire, and includes The King Shall Rejoice; one of Handel's Coronation Anthems, and his first commission as a naturalized British citizen, for the coronation of King George II.

Shakespeare's text appears in Song for Athene, (brought to global attention at the funeral of Princess Diana) by 20th century composer John Tavener, whose music is inspired by Greek Orthodox chant. Also contemporary are the profound words of German pastor, theologian and pacifist Dietrich Bonhoeffer, executed in a Nazi prison camp two weeks before its liberation by the Allies. Morning Prayers is a poignant section of a longer work by Philip Moore, formerly the Director of Music at York Minster.

There will also be more than one surprise in this choral cornucopia!

Venue

St. Mary's Anglican Church
1701 Elgin Ave.
Church

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