Opera Omaha delivers "endless pleasure" in new Semele with Aubrey Allicock

Dancers surround Somnus (Aubrey Allicock), god of sleep

Regular readers will remember that our "Barihunks Best of 2014" featured Opera Omaha for the "Hottest Cast in Opera" for their production of Handel's Agrippina. The cast was led by two of the sexiest barihunks in the business, Hadleigh Adams as the emperor Claudio and Doug Williams as Pallante.

Opera Omaha is bringing back the director of Agrippina, James Darrah and his creative team Chromatic, to take on another Handel opera, Semele. Barihunk Aubrey Allicock will sing the role of Somnus, the god of sleep. He'll be joined by countertenor Ray Chenez as Athamas, soprano Mary Feminear as Semele, mezzo Peabody Southwell as Juno, tenor William Ferguson as Jupiter and soprano Liz Lang as Iris. Early music specialist Stephen Stubbs will also return to conduct Semele.

Samuel Ramey sings "More Sweet is That Name" from Semele:

Performances at the Orpheum Theater will be on April 8 and 10 and tickets are available online. There will be a pre-performance talk 40 minutes before each performance in the Grand Lobby, where James Darrah will share insights into this new production.

Handel’s Semele is a darkly comic mythological story of a mortal woman’s tryst with a dangerous god. It's the tale of two worlds, the immortal and the mortal. Swept off to a celestial love nest by the besotted Jupiter, the still-discontented princess is easily manipulated by the jealous Juno into demanding more, and is destroyed. The opera includes some of Handel's most popular arias, including Semele's "Endless pleasure, endless love." Jupiter's "Where'er you walk" and the most egotistical aria in all of opera, Semele's "Myself I shall adore."

Countertenor Ray Chenez & Barihunk Aubrey Allicock

Opera Omaha, which began in 1958 as the Omaha Civic Opera Society, is the only professional opera company in Nebraska, It became a fully professional opera company by 1970 and is known for highlighting gifted young singers from the area as well as nationwide. The company is known for both its innovation and educational outreach programs. They had produced eight world premieres and four American premieres.

Pictures from Agrippina featuring "the hottest cast in opera"

Hadleigh Adams

Our recent post about entitles "Hottest Cast in Opera Assembled in Omaha for Handel's Agrippina" drew a disproportionate amount of traffic to our site. It proves once again that with great programming and singers who interest the public, opera can flourish anywhere.  After all, Omaha is better known for Warren Buffet than Leonard Warren.

They also hired the 29-year-old director James Darrah, who didn't shy away from the more sexual aspects of the story, keeping it current and fresh. Fidelity to the music was preserved under the direction of early opera specialist Stephen Stubbs. [By the way Darrah is some pretty serious eye candy, as well].

Hadleigh Adams

The performance received a rave review from the Omaha Tribune Herald.  They said of Hadleigh Adams, who played Claudio, "...Hadleigh Adams had a delivery that was impressively full-bodied and bold. He has a gorgeous voice and performed with a confidence befitting an emperor. Moreover, he had a physical presence that was commanding and powerful and conveyed that, like Agrippina, Claudius is used to getting what he wants."

Doug Williams

Of Doug Williams they wrote, "Bass-baritone Doug Williams and tenor Zachary Wilder perfectly complemented each other as Pallante and Narciso, and their standout scene featured each being pseudo-seduced by Agrippina in her bedchamber. While the action produced many laughs, it was the delivery that demonstrated their abilities to smoothly control their voices, even amid semi-steamy action."

Of course, even the music critic Kim Carpenter couldn't help but notice the attractiveness of this talented cast, giving us our favorite lines of the review: "As a side note, I feel compelled to mention that the entire ensemble is impossibly pretty. While it's the voices and acting that matter, of course, having a gorgeous line-up of performers makes the over three hour production all the more enjoyable."

Doug Williams

Opera Omaha, which began in 1958 as the Omaha Civic Opera Society, is the only professional opera company in Nebraska, It became a fully professional opera company by 1970 and is known for highlighting gifted young singers from the area as well as nationwide. The company is known for both its innovation and educational outreach programs. They had produced eight world premieres and four American premieres.

Although Agrippina ends today, they have performances of Rossini's La Cenerentola coming up in April with two singers familiar to readers of this site, Daniel Belcher and Levi Hernandez. Belcher will be singing Dandini and Hernandez is taking on Don Magnifico. The talented young tenor Andrew Bidlack will be Ramiro, joining soprano Lauren McNeese who is singing Angelina. Performances are April 25 and 27. Tickets are available online.