September’s Reading is a read-through of Handel’s “Semele”. Handel was determined to bring international-level Italian opera to the London, England. He presented many Italian operas, but with their mixed success, he gradually turned his attention to dramatic works in English, including his famous oratorios. Semele is part opera, part oratorio: a dramatic story from Greek mythology (not the Bible), but never fully staged in Handel’s time. The result is an amazing dramatic hybrid, full of famous arias, and exciting chorus and orchestral writing.
Conductor David Fallis is one of Canada’s leading interpreters of operatic and choral/orchestral repertoire, known especially for his work in the Baroque and Classical periods, and contemporary music. As Music Director for Opera Atelier, he has helped bring that company onto stages around the world. He directs Soundstreams Choir 21, a vocal ensemble specializing in contemporary choral music, and from 1990-2018 he was Artistic Director of the Toronto Consort, a renowned chamber group specializing in the music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance.