Handel: Semele
$60.00
In Stock
add to cart
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Semele
New Zealand Opera Chorus, Holy Trinity Cathedral Choir, New Zealand Opera Baroque Orchestra, Peter Walls
[ Opus Arte DVD / DVD ]
Release Date: Friday 21 July 2023
Witness The Wedding of the Year, filmed at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Auckland New Zealand. Handel's Baroque masterpiece Semele is an exciting mix of opera and oratorio. Unlike his much more famous Messiah, this work scandalised audiences when first performed at Covent Garden theatre in 1774. Drawn from Ovid's Metamorphoses, the sensual story explores a love triangle between Jupiter, King of the Gods, his wife, the goddess Juno, and his lover, the mortal princess Semele…
Emma Pearson (Semele), Amitai Pati (Jupiter/Apollo), Sarah Castle (Juno/Ino), Paul Whelan (Cadmus/Somnus), Stephen Diaz (Athamas), Chelsea Dolman (Iris), Sashe Angelovski (Priest)
"led by Emma Pearson's moody Semele and Amitai Pati's burly Jupiter (doubling as Apollo), with fine support from countertenor Stephen Diaz as Athamas and Sarah Castle's fire-cracker Juno (doubling as schoolma'am Ino), the young cast perform heroically, while Peter Walls extracts lovely sounds from the New Zealand Opera Baroque Orchestra." BBC Music
"Amitai Pati is the pick of the bunch. The Samoan tenor (one third of Sol3 Mio) is an outstanding Jupiter, bright-toned and fullvoiced, lyrical lines anchored by enough weight to make this reluctant smiter believable as both lover and thug." Gramophone
