Dido and Aeneas

When asked to adapt Purcell's melodious and moving work for this special studio presentation, composer Howard Goodall aimed to reach an audience normally resistant to opera. He chose Debby Bishop and Peter Straker - stars of musicals rather than opera - as the tragic lovers, used modern instruments, including saxophone, guitar and synthesiser, in his orchestration, and replaced recitative with spoken dialogue. A Dido as Purcell might have written it today? In a short introduction, Goodall and Purcell virtuoso Simon Preston discuss this question.