Florentine Opera's Semele

The stars were aligned at the Pabst Theater this weekend.
The Florentine Opera’s production of Semele was imaginative, witty, gorgeous and even occasionally moving.
That’s not faint praise for a baroque opera, particularly for an audience used to the steady diet of soaring arias saturated with breast-beating emotions. Baroque opera is built instead on winding, breath-robbing strings of rapid notes. There are gorgeous melodies to be sure, this is Handel after all. But songs like “Where‘er you walk,” are more matter-of-fact and clean. Their emotional heft relies more on clarity and phrasing than booming, sing-to-the-cheap-seats firepower. That’s exactly what tenor Robert Breault gave the song, with beautifully sensitive accompaniment by the Florentine Orchestra, conducted by Jane Glover.
Read my complete review at Milwaukee Magazine's Culture Club.
Photo by Richard Brodzeller for Florentine Opera Company © 2009.