Last Updated on June 8, 2026
Opera Disguised as Oratorio in the Park
4.1 out of 5.0 starsHandel’s Semele is one of those works that refuses to sit neatly in a box. First staged at Covent Garden in 1744, it was billed as a “new oratorio” to slip past London’s strict Lenten ban on opera. Yet what audiences encountered was no pious oratorio at all, but a glittering mythological drama brimming with erotic charge, satire, and Italianate arias. The story, adapted by William Congreve from Ovid, follows the mortal princess whose desire for Jupiter leads her into a perilous confrontation with Juno’s wrath – a tale of passion, vanity, and divine revenge.
Musically, it is among Handel’s most intoxicating creations. Sensuous lyricism rubs shoulders with biting comedy, virtuosic coloratura with moments of whispered intimacy. Handel designed the title role for the celebrated soprano Elisabeth Duparc, famed for her “lark-like execution,” while Jupiter was entrusted to his longtime tenor collaborator John Beard. The score asks much of its singers: brilliance, agility, and psychological nuance.
This summer, Waterperry Opera Festival brought Semele to the open-air stage at Holland Park. From the outset, the production felt tailor-made for its surroundings. The audience sat with the orchestra in plain view, directed with crisp energy by Bertie Baigent from the keyboard. Despite the outdoor setting, balance was impeccable, the players delivering Handel’s effervescent score with elegance and bite.
Director Rebecca Meltzer opted for a strikingly pared-back aesthetic. At the centre of the stage stood a marbled altar, lit from within to shift mood and meaning. A simple walkway cut through the orchestra, allowing singers to pass between musicians and audience. Catja Hamilton’s lighting and Jennifer Gregory’s designs worked in tandem: mortals in monochrome, gods in gleaming contemporary garb, while Semele and Ino, once transported to Jupiter’s realm, splashed their white costumes with vivid paint. Puppets – a lark and an eagle – offered playful symbolic flourishes. The result was refreshingly cohesive, proof that Handel’s stagecraft doesn’t need excess to shine.
Hilary Cronin’s Semele was the evening’s magnetic centre. She captured both the character’s charm and her dangerous naivety, her soprano glinting with precision in “Endless Pleasure” and laced with self-satire in “Myself I shall adore.” By the time she launched into the terrifying defiance of “No, no, I’ll take no less!”, Cronin had fully convinced the audience of Semele’s seductive power and tragic hubris.
Michael Lafferty’s Jupiter matched her note for note; commanding, ardent, and dramatically assured. Meltzer heightened his impact by placing him silently onstage early in the drama, a looming presence that finally erupted in Act II with the yearning “Ah, whither is she gone?” flowing into the radiant “Where’er you walk.” It was a coup de théâtre that paid off handsomely.
Among the supporting cast, Sophie Goldrick lent Juno an imperious mezzo authority, her fury cutting through the score with thrilling force. Louise Fuller’s Iris, by contrast, provided nimble wit and sparkle, an impressive festival debut that stood out even among a strong ensemble. The doubling of secondary roles into a tight-knit chorus underlined the production’s clarity and focus.
It’s worth remembering that Handel’s Semele scandalised its first audiences. Oratorio devotees scorned its secular sensuality, while opera-lovers missed the visual splendour of sets and costumes. Charles Jennens, librettist of Messiah, dismissed it as a “bawdy opera.” Only six performances were given in 1744, two of them bowdlerised with imported Italian arias to placate the critics.
Yet nearly three centuries later, Semele feels uncannily modern in its exploration of vanity, desire, and the perils of overreaching. Waterperry’s production embraced that duality, combining baroque stylisation with fresh immediacy.
For the festival itself, the show was also a statement of intent. Founded to make opera accessible to wider audiences, Waterperry claims to offers an atmosphere more Glastonbury than Glyndebourne: relaxed, youthful, and vibrant. Its emphasis on nurturing emerging talent was evident in a cast of rising voices who carried the evening with distinction.
In the end, this Semele managed something rare: to honour Handel’s dazzling originality while reasserting the opera’s capacity to scandalise, seduce, and move in equal measure. It was proof not only of Handel’s enduring genius but of Waterperry Opera Festival’s ambition, to bring opera to life in ways that are as vital today as they were provocative in 1744.
Semele
Waterperry Opera Festival
Opera Holland Park Theatre,
Ilchester Place,
Holland Park
London W8 6LU
21st and 22nd August
Missed this? For more music in London check our opera previews for 2025
You can also catch Hilary Cronin at the Proms in Alexander’s Feast on 30th August 2025
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