CIM Opera Theater’s digital 'Dido and Aeneas' nominated for 2023 OPERA America award

One of the most innovative opera projects ever completed at CIM has received national recognition.   

Late Monday, OPERA America announced that CIM’s groundbreaking digital presentation of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas has advanced to the final round of adjudication for its 2023 Awards for Digital Excellence in Opera.  

The project, released to wide acclaim in 2022, is now a candidate in the contest’s last stage, the winner of which will be revealed at a ceremony Dec. 4 at the National Opera Center in New York City.  

“We are proud of the way CIM provided its students and patrons a rewarding artistic experience during a challenging time,” said Paul Hogle, CIM’s President & CEO.  

“External pressures might have led us to withdraw. Instead, CIM Opera Theater displayed new levels of agility and creativity, leading us all to think about opera in new ways.”  

The creative work that is Dido and Aeneas was the brainchild of Dean Southern, Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs, Dean of the Institute, and a member of CIM’s voice faculty. It emerged during the pandemic, in 2021 and 2022.  

Eager for a rewarding and safe way to engage opera students, Southern and CIM Opera Theater made a cinematic version of Purcell’s 1680s masterpiece and partnered on direction with Eric Vaughan of Akron-based Red Point Digital to develop and produce the film. The production was shot outdoors at the former Westinghouse Factory in Cleveland.   

All performers, including a student chorus and the CIM Orchestra under Harry Davidson, recorded their parts separately. The cast, starring soprano Rachel Rose (PS ’22, Kuznetsova) and baritone Jiayin Shi (MM ’21, Blumberg/Southern), acted out the scenes in synchronization with a soundtrack, all of which was compiled by Alan Bise (BM ’94, Knab), CIM’s Grammy Award-winning Director of Recording Arts and Services. 

In a final bold stroke, CIM’s design team embraced the Westinghouse factory setting by placing the story in a not-so-distant time and place rife with many of the problems society faces today, including economic disparity, widespread misinformation, and addiction to technology. 

“We wanted it recorded and filmed like a cinematic production,” Southern explained. “This gave the students the experience of making a professional audio recording, and they learned how different acting for film can be, as opposed to being on stage in front of a live audience.” 

The OPERA America Awards for Digital Excellence in Opera are offered in four categories. Dido and Aeneas was nominated in the “University/Conservatory Projects” category along with Operas [In Place], produced by Cleveland Opera Theater and Baldwin Wallace Conservatory.   

Shortly after the production of Dido and Aeneas, Southern said he was pleased by the dedication and expertise faculty and students alike demonstrated in bringing the work to the screen. He described it as a production none of those involved will soon forget.  

“The imagination, the energy everybody brought to this project was just amazing,” Southern said. “It’s something we can all be proud of.”   

The ceremony for OPERA America’s 2023 Awards for Digital Excellence in Opera will take place at 7pm EST Monday, Dec. 4 at the National Opera Center, 330 Seventh Ave., New York, NY. There will be a livestream of the ceremony. Click here for more information.

The next production by CIM Opera Theater is of Handel’s Alcina, Nov. 17 and 19. For more information and tickets, visit cim.edu/fallopera.