Handel: Semele

Witness The Wedding of the Year, filmed at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Auckland, New Zealand. Handel's Baroque masterpiece Semele is an exciting mix of opera and oratorio. Unlike his much more famous Messiah, this work scandalized audiences when first performed at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, London in 1774. Drawn from Ovid's Metamorphoses, the sensual story explores a love triangle between Jupiter, King of the Gods, his wife, the goddess Juno, and his lover, the mortal princess Semele. "A remarkable production... a brilliant theatrical phenomenon, surprising, amusing and utterly engrossing" (Opera Magazine)