{"id":339,"date":"2025-07-14T19:46:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T18:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/beyondthescore\/?p=339"},"modified":"2025-07-21T19:20:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T18:20:09","slug":"bold-bleak-and-unforgettable-semele-at-the-royal-opera-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/beyondthescore\/2025\/07\/14\/bold-bleak-and-unforgettable-semele-at-the-royal-opera-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Bold, bleak, and unforgettable: Semele at the Royal Opera House"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oliver Mears\u2019s staging of Handel\u2019s dramma per musica offers a strikingly dark and provocative reinterpretation of Semele<\/em>, now running at Covent Garden through July 18.<\/p>\n

Mears places the tale in a glitzy yet soulless the 1960s luxury hotel, where ambition and betrayal play out against sleek Art Deco backdrops and an ever-present furnace motif. This modern palace\u2014so immaculately designed by Annemarie Woods\u2014sharpens the story\u2019s themes of desire, vanity, and the destructive consequences of hubris\u00a0. The production\u2019s visual impact alternates between glamourous and ominous, with stygian shadows and flare-ups of flame foreshadowing Semele\u2019s fate\u00a0. The chorus and orchestral playing under Christian Curnyn are strong, though occasionally risk overwhelming the finer vocal lines when handling lighter voices\u00a0. Curnyn brings an authoritative Handel approach, even if the ROB\u2019s full modern orchestra sometimes drowns the subtleties\u00a0.<\/p>\n

Pretty Yende\u2019s Semele is a dichotomy: initially cautious, she blossoms into emotional intensity by the second half. Critics note her melodic lines in ‘Myself I shall adore’ and her vivid lament in Act III as highlights, though early intonation wobbles pulled some reactions . Ben Bliss delivers a smooth, lyrical Jupiter; his \u201cWhere\u2019er you walk\u201d scored notable praise for its blend of sweetness and sardonic charm\u00a0 . Alice Coote\u2019s vengeful Juno steals scenes with fiery intensity and stage presence. Supporting singers\u2014including Carlo Vistoli (Athamas), Niamh O\u2019Sullivan (Ino), Marianna Hovanisyan (Iris), and Brindley Sherratt (Somnus\/Cadmus)\u2014are uniformly strong, contributing to an ensemble cast that sustains dramatic momentum throughout.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Ben Bliss and Pretty Yende in Semele at Th\u00e9\u00e2tre des Champs-Elys\u00e9es (Photo: Vincent Pontet) taken from Gramophone.co.uk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Critics are divided on whether Mears\u2019s dark reinterpretation sacrifices Handel\u2019s bawdy charm. The Times and FT emphasised the production\u2019s uncompromising moral tone and provocative final image, calling it bold, but left some viewers questioning whether essential joy was lost . Others, like The Spectator, note the staging is ‘contradictory’, yet concede the music\u2019s brilliance still overwhelms with ‘splendour’ \u00a0Overall, Semele<\/em> at the ROH is a daring, displacement of Handel into 20th-century cynical drama. The vocal performances, particularly ofe from Yende, Bliss, and Coote, are compelling. The production\u2019s bracing darkness may not delight everyone, but it leaves a lasting impression\u2014an opera both stripped of sentiment and enriched by its vivid, emotional core. Don’t miss out!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oliver Mears\u2019s staging of Handel\u2019s dramma per musica offers a strikingly dark and provocative reinterpretation of Semele, now running at Covent Garden through July 18. Mears places the tale in a glitzy yet soulless the 1960s luxury hotel, where ambition and betrayal play out against sleek Art Deco backdrops and an ever-present furnace motif. This … Continue reading “Bold, bleak, and unforgettable: Semele at the Royal Opera House”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2321,"featured_media":344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-classical-composers","category-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/beyondthescore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/beyondthescore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/beyondthescore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/beyondthescore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2321"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/beyondthescore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/beyondthescore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":349,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/beyondthescore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339\/revisions\/349"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/beyondthescore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/beyondthescore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/beyondthescore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/beyondthescore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}