Arts & Events

As part of the Berkeley Early Music Festival’s Fringe events, William Ludtke’s Handel Opera Project presented Handel’s opera Semele on Saturday, June 11, at 2:30 in The First Church of Christ, Science on Dwight Way. Over the years, Handel Opera Project has taken on not only operas by Handel but also operas by other composers. I still recall quite fondly their performance in 2014 of Luigi Cherubini’s Médée, based on the Greek tragedy Medea by Euripides, with the excellent Eliza O’Malley in the title role. For that opera, and for many others, Handel Opera Project has had to make do with the confined space of the Christian Science Organization’s premises on Durant Avenue. However, for this presentation of Semele they had the much more hospitable and architecturally remarkable setting of Bernard Maybeck’s First Church of Christ, Science on Dwight Way. For this reason, and in spite of having a cast of singers I’d never heard before, this Semele was a must-see for me in this year’s Berkeley Early Music Festival. 

Though announced as “ a concert version,” this production offered a hybrid mix in which though lacking any stage sets, the singers tried to act out their roles with elaborate gestures. Sometimes, they overdid their gestures. This was especially the case with countertenor Reuben Zellman in the role of Athamas. Even when not singing, Zellman made all sorts of gesticulations with hands and facial expressions as if to register dismay, incredulousness, or whatever. Often, Zellman’s overacting simply distracted from the excellent singing of contralto Sara Couden as Ino, Semele’s sister. 

In the title role, coloratura soprano Angela Jarocsz portrayed Semele as a kind of airhead, singing in a voice that depicted a mortal young woman quite pleased with herself in enjoying a sexual liaison with Jupiter, the greatest of the gods. If this seemed an appropriate interpretation dramatically for the role of Semele, it was nonetheless not always enjoyable vocally. However, Jarocsz delivered a fine rendition of Semele’s coloratura aria “Endless pleasures” in Act One. Veteran baritone Wayne Wong was excellent in double-duty as both Cadmus, Semele’s father, and the priest at Juno’s temple in Thebes. In the role of Juno, Jupiter’s wife who is furious at her husband’s infidelities, mezzo-soprano Ellen St. Thomas sang beautifully and acted credibly. As Jupiter, tenor Andrew Green was uninspiring though adequate. Perhaps one might fault Handel himself for writing the role of Jupiter, the greatest of the gods, for a tenor voice instead of a deeper, more masculine vocal timbre. Soprano Shannon Arcilla (or Shannon Latimer, as she is listed in the Berkeley Early Music Festival’s reader), was fine in the role of Iris. Finally, Don Hoffman was entertaining in the somewhat comic role of Sommus, the god of sleep. 

Handel’s Semele, which was first performed in concert form in English at London’s Covent Garden theatre on February 10, 1744, was also sung in English for this current presentation. 

Wliiam G. Ludtke conducted from the harpsichord and led a small instrumental ensemble of two flutes, two violins, a viola, and a violoncello.