• Faye Newton soprano
• Daniel Auchincloss tenor
• Andrew Kidd bass
• Jack Edwards reader
• Psalmody
• The Parley of Instruments
• directed by Peter Holman

The Indian Queen is the last of the series of semi-operas (elaborate musical plays) written by Henry Purcell in the 1690s; it was left unfinished at his death in November 1695 and was completed by his brother Daniel. Based on a play partly by John Dryden, it concerns love and conflict between the Incas and the Aztecs – requiring Peru to be next to Mexico!

It includes some of Purcell’s finest and most mature theatre music, including the Masque of Fame and Envy, the dramatic incantation scene ‘Ye twice ten-hundred deities’, and the lovely song ‘I attempt from Love’s sickness to fly’. As with our earlier performances of King Arthur and The Fairy Queen, the musical scenes are linked by a script, specially written by Andrew Pinnock.