Pittsburgh Opera has postponed its first-ever production of George Frideric Handel’s “Semele” from February to May.

The move was made “in response to ongoing covid-19 concerns, including high cases in Allegheny County and the slower-than-hoped-for vaccine rollout,” the opera said.

“Semele” will be performed on six dates, May 8-20, at opera headquarters in Pittsburgh’s Strip District. The cast and artistic team will remain the same.

“’Semele’ is a satirical, tongue-in-cheek musical-drama confection by the master composer Handel with an elegant libretto by the great English poet William Congreve,” said General Director Christopher Hahn. “Slightly salacious and naughty, it shocked the London audience at its premiere during Lent in 1744 and will enchant Pittsburgh in 2021.”

The Baroque gem is a “timeless tale from Greek antiquity about the pitfalls of ambition, vanity and making open-ended promises,” Pittsburgh Opera says. The title character, Princess Semele disdains marrying a mere human prince and instead sets her eyes on Jupiter, king of the gods, with tragic results.

“Our Baroque operas continue to gain a larger and larger following. ‘Semele’ is almost 300 years old, yet has never been performed before in Pittsburgh,” said Christian Cox, the opera’s director of marketing and communications. “We take great pleasure in bringing it to our community, and are thrilled to partner once again with our friends at Chatham Baroque to add extra period authenticity to the performances.”

“By delaying these performances a few months, we believe we give our patrons a much better chance of being able to see ‘Semele’ in person,” Hahn said. “Many more people will have been vaccinated by then, and the post-holiday surge in cases will hopefully have drastically subsided.”

Moving “Semele” does not affect the April production of “Charlie Parker’s Yardbird,” the opera said.

Rigid safety

The opera will follow the rigid covid safety protocols it employed for October’s sold-out run of Mozart’s “Così fan tutte.”

These include reconfigured seating to accommodate fewer patrons based on gathering size guidelines at the time of performances; health screenings and temperature checks for patrons, artists and staff; masks for patrons and staff; professional cleaning of the studio after every performance; and structured audience traffic flows, including staggered arrival times.

The May 14 performance will be livestreamed free at 7:30 p.m. on the opera’s YouTube channel and Facebook page. The audio commentary program for patrons with visual impairments will be available at the May 18 performance.

Patrons who already have tickets for “Semele” are guaranteed seats for a new performance date. Ticket-holders can call 412-281-0912, ext. 216, or email tickets@pittsburghopera.org with questions and requests.

If ticket-holders do not wish to convert their tickets to a new performance date, the value can be credited to their account, donated back to the opera or refunded.

Patrons can unlock premium content, including the official program book and pre-performance podcast, by making a gift to the opera.

Details: pittsburghopera.org

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