Opera / “Dido & Aeneas”, Cole’s Opera Salon, Smith’s Alternative, November 26. Reviewed by GRAHAM McDONALD.

THE contemporary music venue of Smith’s Alternative in Civic is not the first place one might think of for an opera performance on a Saturday afternoon.

Nevertheless, it was a full house for an entertaining abridged performance of Henry Purcell’s late 17th century opera “Dido & Aeneas”, directed by Canberra singer and teacher Toby Cole. The plot, such as it is, revolves around the marriage of Dido, Queen of Carthage to the Trojan hero Aeneas, who later leaves her to return to Troy.

The rest of the cast of nine play court attendants, sailors and witches at various times. The production is minimal, with the performers in everyday dress and a few small props and pieces of costume.

The stage at Smiths is in a corner with the audience both in front and on the side, with the orchestra of two violins, viola and keyboard tucked away below the end of the stage in the middle of the audience. Toby Cole directed and played viola, with Katie Cole and Helena Popovic on violins and Marie Searles on (almost inaudible) keyboard. Oddly, Cole used the viola as the continuo instrument, rather than the most usual keyboard, with the viola part seemingly no more than that instrument’s line in a larger score and often having a tenuous relationship to the singing on stage.

The singers were mostly drawn from the ANU School of Music’s Chamber Choir, which Cole directs, and did a fine job of presenting this opera. Especially notable were Emmeline Booth as Dido and the two young women who played her attendants in the early scenes, with a sparkling duet from those two a highlight.

The ensemble singing was well balanced and enthusiastic with the sense that everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

This was a one-off performance and while there were a few rough edges along the way it was a most enjoyable and diverting way to spend an hour on a Saturday afternoon. This performance was, I understand, a self-funded activity coming from the Cole family’s longstanding interest in early opera and vocal music. It does show that with a little support, opera, and especially Baroque opera, productions would be entirely possible here with the core of early music specialist musicians in this part of the world.