The English Concert: Handel's "Semele"

The Hop hosts the US premiere of The English Concert’s semi-staged production of the English-language Handel opera Semele. In this sensuous and sparkling charmer, mortal maiden Semele incites the jealousy of the goddess Juno, resulting in some of opera’s most delicious arias of lust and rage. Coloratura Branda Rae plays the feckless mortal to mezzo Elizabeth DeShong’s furious goddess. New York’s Clarion Choir, directed by rising-star conductor Steven Fox ’00, gives voice to the choruses of priests, soothsayers, nymphs and others who tunefully witness Semele’s downfall.