Semele review – Jupiter snarls and Handel’s heroine glows amid flaking stucco

Louise Alder was a unusually sympathetic Semele in this semi-staged and classy production conducted by John Eliot Gardiner

Berenice review – witty and winning political chicanery

Handel’s collision of politics and love is played with conviction by a strong cast led by Claire Booth, under the direction of Adele Thomas

Unknown, Remembered… review – a baffling and curiously disengaged installation

A soprano’s Handel cantata is interrupted by Joy Division, turntablism and artist Haroon Mirza’s take on a Beckett play – in this elusive multimedia piece

Handel Goes Wild CD review – baroque collides with jazz and world

I wouldn’t say wild exactly, but Handel does go a bit off-road on this polished jam session from L’Arpeggiata, in which the ensemble’s baroque players collide with a handful of jazz and world musicians, all led from the theorbo by … Continue reading →

Barsanti; Handel: Edinburgh 1742 CD review – a rich insight into the Enlightenment city

What went on behind closed doors in Edinburgh in 1742? The Enlightenment city had no concert halls but there was plenty of music afoot. Any self-respecting merchant needed a couple of horn-playing servants to follow him up Arthur’s Seat. Meanwhile, … Continue reading →

Handel: Ottone CD review – neglected opera performed with relish

Max Emanuel Cencic and Ann Hallenberg are ably supported by an elegant orchestra in this mesmerising recital

Semele review – Handel’s celestial opera remade as a Technicolor romcom

Annilese Miskimmon’s beautifully sung but sardonic production lends the saga of the gods some of the vividness and surreality of early 60s Hollywood

Faramondo review – mafiosi blaze a trail through Handel’s hellhole

Overtones of The Godfather lurk around every corner of William Relton’s cool and clever staging of Handel’s problematic piece, which is exquisitely sung

Partenope review – Handel on a night out with beardy bohemians

Despite the culottes and mustachios, ENO’s revival of its 2008 production retains enough substance to back up its arch styling

Oreste review – compelling and revolting; whether it serves Handel is another matter

With its gore, sexual menace and overtones of Beckett, Gerard Jones’s production will divide audiences but succeeds superbly in showcasing its young singers

Handel: Susanna CD review – intensely moving

Fons, Lowrey, Balzer, Nolte, Hendrick, NDR Choir, FestspielOrchester Göttingen/ Cummings (Accent) (3 CDs)

Handel: Apollo e Dafne, etc CD review – pert, spicy and full of drama

This disc opens with the lush six-movement overture to Il Pastor Fido and closes with Apollo e Dafne, a 1710 dramatic cantata based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Both are earlyish Handel, from the same period as Rinaldo and with the same … Continue reading →

Handel at Vauxhall, Vol 1 review – an attractive potpourri

Soloists, London Early Opera/Cunningham(Signum)

Elpidia review – Handel’s pastiche sung with magnificence

Opera Settecento gave Handel’s insightful story of love and war a fine modern airing with superb performances

Ariodante; Thomas Adès review – fine voices and magnetic aural bounties

Ariodante revealed superb young singers to listen out for, while Thomas Adès offered works of fantastic richness