Handel Week Festival: The Oratorio Semele

Featuring the Handel Week Chorus, soprano Kimberly McCord and tenor David Portillo
Pre-concert lecture begins at 2:30 p.m. 
Join us for an post-concert reception featuring wine, chocolates and hors d'oeuvres.

Semele was first performed on Feb. 10, 1744 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, London, as part of a concert series held yearly during Lent. The audience naturally expected Bible-based subject matter; most oratorios, including most of Handel's, meet this expectation. But the amorous topic of Semele, drew on Greek myths, not Hebrew laws, and so it displeased those attending for a different kind of uplift.