Solidly built Valkyrie maidens in Viking helmets, shattering wineglasses with the power of their voices alone… people in satin and powdered wigs courting, joking, (or maybe they’re arguing?) in a language you don’t speak…  Lovers who sing of undying love, then die, but not before singing again! This is opera, right? 

If that fits your idea of opera, then you are definitely in for a surprise during this episode of Highway 89.  Our guests are from the Westminster Opera Studio in Salt Lake City, and they share music from their current production, “Semele,” by George Friederick Handel. Originally set in Ancient Greece, Director Michael Chipman has given this production a vampire theme, set in the deep South! 

Despite the changes in setting and level of undeath, the music remains entirely Handel. Studio Director Michael Chipman, Chorus Director Eric Schmidt, and title soprano Christy Peterson chat with Steven Kapp Perry about the experiences they’ve had in adapting this beautifully baroque opera for a pop-culture-fed audience, without losing any of the quality or musicality of the original. 

Selections Featured: 

CHORUS: “Lucky Omens;” 

SEMELE: (Recitative & Aria) "Ah Me! What Refuge Now is Left Me.....O Jove! In Pity;” 

CHORUS: "Avert These Omens, All Ye Pow'rs!;" 

SEMELE (Aria) and CHORUS: "Endless Pleasure, Endless Love;" 

JUNO and IRIS: (Recitative and Aria): "Awake Saturnia from thy Lethargy.... Hence, Iris, Hence Away!;" 

APOLLO and CHORUS: "Apollo Comes...Happy, Happy We Shall Be!;" 

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