As Semele, Louise Alder (winner of the audience prize in Cardiff this year) suggested that she might have carried off the whole competition had she sung one of Semele's show-stoppers, 'Myself I shall adore' or 'No, no, I'll take no less'. Her ravishing ability to tease and play with vocal decoration made her one of the role's most entrancing interpreters I have heard since Valerie Masterson at Covent Garden and Rosemary Joshua at ENO. What a lovely artist this young soprano is, ideally suited to Handel's sex-kittenish roles. OPERA, Hugh Canning, November 2017

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Soprano Louise Alder was the unquestioned star of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’s performance... Louise Alder didn’t skimp on theatrics — head-tossing, flashing eyes, impatient sighs — but her singing was as tasteful and nuanced as the character she created was satisfyingly impudent; vain, but all too human.

THE TIMES, Neil Fischer, October 2017

Louise Alder could hardly have been more right. A bewitching young soprano, whose rise to success has deservedly been rapid, she embodied Semele’s coquettishness, impetuosity and vanity; few singers could make the lavish coloratura of “Myself I shall adore” sound quite so naughty. Equally, she captured her character’s vulnerability. It was fascinating to watch the complex play of emotions on Alder’s face, even between her entries. And it was a delight to hear those emotions expressed in a voice so radiant.

THE FINANCIAL TIMES, Hannah Nepil, October 2017