Designed to pair with Purcell’s “Dido & Aeneas”

After her mother’s death and father’s abandonment, Aeterna has been raised as Carthage’s new queen by the city’s Goddess protector, Juno. When news comes of Aeneas having finally founded Rome—the city he chose over Dido—Aeterna, guided by Juno, sets out to avenge her mother and change the fate of her home. For if she kills Aeneas, then Rome will never rise to destroy Carthage. But Aeterna has spent a lifetime yearning to connect with the parents she has never known, and trying to understand her own place in a world of gods and destiny. As she nears Aeneas on her long, dangerous journey, she must choose: either forgive her father, or kill him.

This work grapples with powerful themes of parenthood, legacy, and the costs of becoming “great.”