Handel: Semele
Alexandra Palace, 2nd May 2019
“Behold a new-erected palace rise!” Iris tells Juno in Act 2 of Semele. Alexandra Palace wasn’t even built when Handel’s “bawdy opera” was premiered in Covent Garden in 1744, but its theatre is indeed newly risen, like the phoenix from Semele’s ashes that Apollo promises in the final scene. After decades of Somnus-like slumber, Ally Pally’s theatre reopened for the first time in 80 years last December and it now presents its first opera since its reincarnation, Handel’s musical drama “after the manner of an oratorio”.
Louise Alder (Semele) and Lucile Richardot (Juno/Ino)
© Éric Larrayadieu
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