SEMELE

Composer: George Frideric Handel. Libretto based on William Congreve.

Opera in the style of an oratorio (1743)

Recommended for ages 15 and up

A co-production with the Metropolitan Opera, New York

In English. With surtitles in German and English. New production.

Running time: approx. 3 hours 40 minutes

PRODUCTION

She is a bit player in her own life. The reality of her own existence is alien to her. Semele is pressured by her father to marry Athamas and suddenly finds herself in her own wedding ceremony, which the wedding industry has turned into a lavish Hollywood spectacle. As she begins to observe herself from the outside, she creates—as a seemingly viable escape—a parallel reality that she superimposes over her life, where all her longings are fulfilled: an understanding father, a loving husband, self-determination—in short, fulfillment. However, this is temporary and, above all, unreal. In the end, she would have to return to her actual life, where she was swiftly replaced as a wife by her sister Ino because she could not live up to the role assigned to her there. Semele, though physically present, will be unable to find her way back to reality mentally. Her mind will burn out. She had strayed too far from normality. The rigid expectations placed on her as an individual were too at odds with her own will. This fundamental conflict in Semele’s character was adapted by William Congreve and George Frideric Handel from Ovid’s*Metamorphoses*and embedded within the narrative structures typical of Baroque opera. Today, it can also be seen as a reflection on the constricting power of the bourgeois corset.

CAST

Musical Director:Leonardo García Alarcón

Director:Claus Guth

Set Design:Michael Levine

Costume Design:Gesine Völlm

Lighting:Michael Bauer

Video:rocafilm

Choreography:Ramses Sigl

Chorus:Franz Obermair

Dramaturgy:ChristopherWarmuth, Yvonne Gebauer

Semele:Louise Alder

Jupiter:Michael Spyres

Apollo:Michael Butler

Athamas:Jakub Józef Orliński

Juno:Marina Viotti

Ino:Avery Amereau

Iris:Jessica Niles

Cadmus/Somnus:Sam Carl

High Priest:Roman Chabaranok

Bavarian State Orchestra

Bavarian State Opera Chorus