Semele

Fame and immortality.

Mythology goes to church in this unique staging of Semele inside Auckland’s Holy Trinity Cathedral directed by Thomas de Mallet Burgess and Jacqueline Coats.

Handel’s score is an opera and oratorio hybrid, Unlikee his much more famous Messiah, this work was considered profane when first performed. Drawn from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and turned into a libretto by Congreve, 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.

A new Baroque orchestra will be formed especially for Semele featuring period instrument players conducted by Peter Walls, a globally acknowledged expert in the performance of period music. Influential British Baroque violinist Catherine Mackintosh joins the production as Concertmaster.

New Zealand based Australian soprano Emma Pearson will play the title role, alongside remarkable New Zealand singers Amitai Pati, Paul Whelan, Sarah Castle, Stephen Diaz and Chelsea Dolman. The work incorporates the Freemasons New Zealand Opera Chorus and the Cathedral Choir to give voice to the polyphonic choruses so beloved by Handel.

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