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Handel: Semele - Where'er you walk (Hugo Hymas)
Handel: Semele - Hence, Iris, hence away (Lucile Richardot)
Handel: Semele - Why Dost Thou Thus Untimely Grieve (Quartet)
Handel: Semele - Myself I Shall Adore (Louise Alder)
Handel: Semele - Avert These Omens (Chorus)
In Spring 2019, the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, led by John Eliot Gardiner, presented a tour of Handel’s dramatic opera/oratorio. Semele had not been performed by John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi ensembles since they recorded it in the 1980s (the recording described by BBC Music Magazine as the ‘best-conducted Semele on disc’): and the 2019 performances gave audiences the chance to hear a fuller version of the work, notably with some passages by Handel very rarely heard in modern performances.
The performance at London’s recently-restored Alexandra Palace Theatre was filmed live on 2 May 2019 - here are the highlights from the concert.
