At the climax of Dido and Aeneas, Dido, the queen of Carthage sings the great aria "When I am laid in earth." The calm dignity of the farewell has few equals and is unexpectedly moving. In Bach Collegium San Diego's production, Dido's lament was a crowd-pleaser for sure. It's one of those songs that will make you weep and plan your funeral. But the entire cast, orchestra, and setting were also a splendid surprise.

To start, Dido and Aeneas is a gem that has everything going for it. It has lovely melodies, love, tragedy, and witches, and it runs about an hour, yet it is rarely performed.

It is considered the first great opera ever composed by an Englishman. There have been those feisty enough to call it the last as well. A young Henry Purcell composed it in 1689 for - of all places - a girls' boarding school. How fitting that Bach Collegium San Diego also presented it at a school.

A dance master named Josias Priest ran the girls' school in Chelsey, and he must have had powerful friends. England's poet laureate, Nahum Tate wrote a nice, proper libretto based on Virgil's Aeneid. Surely the girls were studying the tragic story of Aeneas, the Trojan hero cast up on the shores of Carthage, and Dido the conflicted heroine. She dies of a broken heart or throws herself upon a funeral pyre, depending on the version.

At the school in Rancho Santa Fe, mezzo-soprano Janelle DeStefano was a regal Queen Dido, completely resigned to her fate, but there were no flames. In her final aria, she sang against the deep bass and minor chords, which was gripping and lovely.

Tenor Scott Mello as Aeneas had a pleasing voice, and I liked his trancelike exit when he was forced to desert his beloved queen.

Kathryn Mueller was stellar in both voice and dramatic expression as Belinda, the concerned lady-in-waiting. Everyone should have a friend like her.

All of the witches were both wicked and funny, an English tradition. They seemed to relish Tate's often-hilarious poetry, which sparked old memories. I grew up listening to this opera. My dad sat in the dark and played it constantly, so bits of it have been locked in my memory. My favorite couplet: "Our plot has took, The Queen's forsook." So very seventeenth century.

Along with period instruments, such as the giant theorbo, a 14-stringed lute with a glorious sound, director Ruben Valenzuela brought a highly expressive style to the opera. Bach Collegium specializes in historically informed music of the Renaissance, Baroque and the vocal works of J.S. Bach. Yet this production did not feel worn, in fact, it had a timeless spark. Sound quality was perfect, and diction was clear.

Led by Angela Young Smucker as the Sorceress, the witches stirred up a storm to separate Dido and Aeneas. Purcell provided passages of villainous laughter and a metal blast of thunder, also an echo quality to indicate a deep cave. Dressed in scruffy variations of black and Goth, the chorus of witches swirled their capes and flashed sinister grins with aplomb. The Spirit disguised as Mercury (Matthew Hall) commanded Aeneas to leave Dido with an amazing womanly voice.

A sleek contemporary set worked well in the intimate venue. A Greek doorway in clean white, a ship's mast, silver strands of beads and illuminated trees framed the action and gave it depth. Dance companies would do well to borrow some of those ideas.

Maybe they could do a trade with Bach Collegium. The ensemble drove the hour-long program in fine style, but the many dance sections seemed an afterthought, such as palm-to-palm turns and slow walks. In future productions, that are not to be missed, I envision simple yet historically informed choreography to complement this talented ensemble.

Performances of Dido and Aeneas were at the new 400-seat Rancho Santa Fe Performing Arts Center, on the campus of R. Roger Rowe Middle School.

Bach Collegium San Diego's new season starts in September 2011 with W.A. Mozart: Requium in Memoriam 9/11. Soloists and venues to be announced.