“I am not dead.
I hijacked a lobster boat instead—
Ursa, the bear—
ordered her skipper to take me north;
motored eight hours up the coast
against the wind,
whitecaps scarring obsidian sea,
detritus of a parade of distant storms—
hurricane season—
charting our course.”
“A moving composition, refreshingly new, yet steeped in centuries-old questions about life and love.”
“Five movements trace the circle of the seasons
from summer to summer, with Fleischmann’s lyrics ranging from the mundane—references to Port Authority as Purgatorio—to ecstatic transformation, with a beautiful mix of Classical references, images of navigation, the sea, island vegetation and other aspects of nature…
By summer, the fifth movement, Dido has become one with nature, in Fleischmann’s most gorgeous imagery and Wagner’s lyrical, soaring vocal lines as Dido is transformed.”
—Opera News
DIDO
a monodrama
music by Melinda Wagner
text by Stephanie Fleischmann
A contemporary reimagining of Dido, in response to Purcell and Tate
for Dawn Upshaw & the Brentano Quartet
commissioned by
92nd Street Y, Rockport Music Festival, Hopkins Center/Dartmouth College, Chamber Music Northwest, Wake Forest University/Secrest Artists Series & Interlochen Arts Academy, University of Maryland
premiere
Secrest Artists Series, Wake Forest, February, 2022
additional performances
Chamber Music Northwest, Portland, Oregon
Caramoor, Katonah, NY
Hancher Auditorium, Iowa City
SF Performances, San Francisco
Chamber Music Monterey
The Soraya, Northridge, CA
published by Theodore Presser
text and music sample available upon request.