Conductor and harpsichordist Maxim Emelyanychev leads Il Pomo d’Oro in concert performances of two Baroque tragedies: Carissimi’s oratorio Jephte and Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas. Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato sings Dido, bringing her dramatic experience as the Queen of Carthage to Purcell’s complete opera and its devastating lament, “When I am laid in earth.”

The cast also features tenor Nicholas Phan as Jephte and Aeneas, mezzo-soprano Beth Taylor as the Sorceress, countertenor Hugh Cutting as the Spirit, soprano Song Hee Lee as Belinda, soprano Jiayu Jin as the Second Woman and Filia, tenor Massimo Altieri as the Sailor, and sopranos Alena Dantcheva and Anna Piroli as the Enchantresses. The period ensemble brings freshness, flexibility, and close dramatic responsiveness to both works.