New Chamber Opera - John Blow's 'Venus & Adonis'
Love & Death
John Blow, Venus & Adonis
Conductor: Luke Mitchell
Director: Michael Burden
10 & 11 November 2022
8:30pm
New College Ante-Chapel
Venus sends Adonis to his death in the hunt...
Venus & Adonis is the only stage work of the Restoration composer John Blow. A masque 'written for the entertainment of the King', the work was performed at Court sometime in the early 1680s. The cast included the King's daughter Lady Mary Tudor as Cupid, and her mother, Mary (Moll) Davis, playing the part of Venus. The myth tells the story of Venus, who, pierced with Cupid's arrow, falls in love with Adonis. She warns him of the danger of the hunt, but he ignores her and is gored by the boar.
Cast
Venus - Jessie Edgar
Adonis - Ben Watkins
Cupid - Melissa Talbot
Huntsman - Karol Jozwik
Shepherdess - Felicity Howard
Shepherd - Dara Collins
Shepherd - John Johnston
Little Cupid - Elizabeth Fitzpatrick
Little Cupid - Ischia Gooda
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