Semele crashes and burns, but Louise Alder soars up at Ally Pally

By Mark Pullinger, 03 May 2019

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“Louise Alder’s sizzling Semele, tremendously sung, sexily bending notes”

Reviewed at Alexandra Palace Theatre, London on 2 May 2019

Handel, Semele (Concert staging)

Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Conductor

Thomas Guthrie, Director

Louise Alder, Semele

Lucile Richardot, Ino, Juno

Gianluca Buratto, Somnus, Cadmus

Carlo Vistoli, Athamas

Hugo Hymas, Jupiter

Angela Hicks, Cupid

Emily Owen, Iris

Peter Davoren, Apollo

Monteverdi Choir

English Baroque Soloists

Triumphant Tavener opens the Edinburgh International Festival

David Smythe, 2nd August

John Tavener's epic, eight-hour all-night vigil opens the festival in monumental style, directed by Thomas Guthrie.

*****

Myth meets Shoreditch: a rewarding Handel double bill

Dominic Lowe, 29th March

Part of this year's London Handel Festival, Apollo e Dafne and The Choice of Hercules are transported to the stage in a captivating production that blends music and dance.

****1

Serenades and larks ascending: Vaughan Williams at Temple Church

Mark Valencia, 7th May

Four excellent soloists played a major part in the evening’s success, marking the 50th anniversary of the Collegium Musicum of London.

***11

Intriguing Schubert, raucous virtuosity: The Alehouse Sessions

David Karlin, 18th November

Raucous banter, musical virtuosity and a plethora of folk styles in the Alehouse Sessions follow Barokksolistene's intriguing take on Schubert's great song cycle.

****1

Vache Baroque opens with a fine Dido and Aeneas

David Karlin, 4th September

Purcell's counterpoint is beautifully sung by a young cast to inaugurate England's latest country house opera venue.

****1

Stark and grief-stricken: Dido and Aeneas at the Barbican

Benjamin Poore, 2nd October

A semi-staged Dido from the Academy of Ancient Music and the speculative funeral music for a queen.

****1

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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.