Name: Semele
Start: 2022-04-08T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2022-04-09T00:00:00.000Z
Location: St Stephen's Uniting Church

Artist

Admin

Concordia Ensemble

Soprano

Lana Kains

Semele

Amelia Bland

Iris

Mezzo-soprano

Cassandra Doyle

Ella Orehek-Coddington

Juno

Tenor

Alexander Caldwell

Jupiter

John L'Estrange

Apollo

Bass

Tobias Page

Somnus

Contralto

Athamas

Wesley Yu

Instrumentalist

Jamie-Lee Xu

Piano

Joanna Li

Ashly Zhang

Molly Ryan

enska

Cristina Pardo Ramírez

Sydney City

Australia

St Stephen's Uniting Church

Public

Staged

Oratorio / Orchestral

Ella Orehek Coddington

Approved

In April 2022, Concordia Ensemble will inaugurate their yearly Lenten oratorio performance. For our first oratorio in the Lenten period, we have selected the wonderfully beautiful Semele, composed by G.F. Handel. When this work first premiered, on 10th February 1744, it caused much debate as it was presented as an oratorio based on a mythological, rather than a Christian subject. Typically, during the Lenten period in England at the time, opera was not performed and was replaced by the concert style of oratorio out of respect for the Christian observation. These oratorios would depict Christian stories from the Bible, such as those of Saul, Theodora and Esther, which Handel also composed for.

Semele stood out of the crowd as an oratorio written on a pagan theme for Lent. Non-Christian stories were usually reserved for the drama and frivolity of the opera, and most people understood Semele to be a thinly veiled work of opera, and thus a scandal was born.
Since then, Semele has cemented itself as a standard of Handel's English repertoire. While not as famous as his Messiah, Semele is regularly staged as an opera. 

Over two evenings in April, Concordia Ensemble will explore the story of Semele through two different casts. This performance will be staged with piano accompaniment in the worship centre of St Stephen's Uniting Church, Sydney. This work will also be abridged to just under two hours.

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