Semele

Jupiter lives to seduce and destroy. Semele is his latest conquest. Installed as Jupiter’s lover in his luxurious home, Semele, a former servant in his household, can’t believe her good fortune. But Jupiter’s wife, Juno, concocts a plan for revenge that will bring ruin to her husband’s young lover.

Uncanny, strange and darkly satirical, this new production from Oliver Mears considers powerlessness, privilege and degradation. First performed in 1744, Semele marks the latest instalment in The Royal Opera's series of Handel's Covent Garden works. Pretty Yende (who sang at the Coronation of King Charles III) performs the title role of Semele, with Ben Bliss, who makes his debut with The Royal Opera, as her seductive but sinister lover. Brindley Sherratt, Carlo Vistoli and Alice Coote also star, conducted by Baroque specialist Christian Curnyn.