Handel: Semele - Myself I Shall Adore (Louise Alder)

Our live recording of Semele at Alexandra Palace is out now:

In Spring 2019, the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, led by John Eliot Gardiner, presented a tour of Handel’s dramatic oratorio, Semele. In a concert-staging directed by Thomas Guthrie, a glamorous team of young soloists joined the Monteverdi ensembles to bring the story of Semele to life.

This performance was filmed in London's Alexandra Palace Theatre on 2 May 2019.

Monteverdi Choir
English Baroque Soloists
John Eliot Gardiner: conductor
Louise Alder: Semele

The three Monteverdi ensembles – the Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique – are a leading force on the international music scene. World-class musicians and singers from many nationalities come together to share in the distinctive vision of our Artistic Director, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, in ground-breaking projects that span eight centuries of musical masterpieces.

[chrigrue]

Louise Alder - she is a wonderful singer, I love to listen and watch.

[juliana.zwickl]

Myself I shall adore,
If I persist in gazing;
No object sure before
Was ever half so pleasing.

[braddavis]

The singing is glorious, but can we take a moment to appreciate those dresses. LOVE THEM.

[trishtraynor]

Utter joy and delight today, at the start of what will prove to be another long period of shielding. I've not had a hug since February but I have all of your wonderful performances wrapped around my heart. Now go away..sniff..I've got something in my eye. ☺️🤩😍🎶🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[catherinecangiano]

Wonderful so fun and creative plus perfect singing

[melvynobrien]

One of the best versions on YT; everyone sings it a little differently; I'll have to check why.

[graceatinukefelix]

Wow I. Hope to sing this well some day

[acratone]

I'm never disappointed by Gardiner !

[johnbruce]

Absolutely wonderful. Should be a compulsory download on all i-phones to demonstrate the folie of narcissism to the latest generation of would be gods and goddesses.

[bilit]

Kiri must b so proud of 1 of her students!

Yummmm...m

[valtergilenardi]

Secondo me e come scrisse Beethoven....Handel è il più grande Compositore mai vissuto 😊❤

[miguelfdz]

Amazing performance... But why she take away the mirror? It's supposed to be enchanted to make her look herself beautiful...

[voraciousreader]

The soloist’s voice and technique are truly glorious, but I just couldn’t handle the constant “fighting” over that demmed mirror! It was not at all realistic, just incredibly annoying, so I finally turned my iPad over. I would much prefer the arias to be sung oratorio style, rather than such a tiny sliver of stage and 2 props to make anything look realistic. Maybe I’m crabby today, but Handel’s lack of textual variety also gets extremely tedious….the endless melismas sound very like an excuse for meaningless vocal gymnastics.

[jamesa]

Can’t bear all that hammy acting. It adds nothing. Embarrassing