Handel: Semele

More than any other among Handel’s English works, Semele marries the
dramatic and musical potencies of opera and oratorio. Writing at the top of 
his form, to a hilarious libretto by one of Britain’s greatest playwrights, Handel 
explores intimate and fraught personal relationships amid collisions of human 
and immortal, parent and child, wife and mistress, the individual and society, 
ambition and power – with some of his most glorious melodies and stirring 
choruses. No wonder Semele perplexed some of Handel’s original audience 
and has delighted those of our own day. LHF’s performance as Handel 
intended – not staged, not cut – gives us a rare opportunity to hear the 
work for what it is, a poignant, witty, compelling drama of the heart and mind.