Students of the Goucher Opera and Musical Theatre Workshop, directed by Jennifer Blades and Lisa Weiss, will present Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, an opera based on Book IV Of Virgil’s Aeneid. It recounts the story of Dido, Queen of Carthage, her love for the Trojan hero Aeneas, and her despair when he abandons her.

In a nod to the original performance which took place at a school for girls in London around 1687, the Goucher production is set in a modern day high school but adds another dimension by telling the multi-layered story of not only the characters in the opera but the high school students who portray these characters.