Organization

Conductor

Yi-Chen Lin

Chorus master

Jeremy Bines

Singer

Soprano

Vasilisa Berzhanskaya

Semiramide

Contralto

Beth Taylor

Arsace

Bass

Riccardo Fassi

Assur

Tenor

Levy Sekgapane

Idreno

Maria Motolygina

Azema

Bogdan Taloş

High priest Oroe

Jörg Schörner

Mitrane

Patrick Guetti

Nino's ghost

Corrado Rovaris

Stage director

Philip Tiedemann

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Orchestra

Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin

Others

Choir of the Deutsche Oper Berlin

Italian

Semiramide -  (Semiramis)

Berlin

Germany

Haus der Berliner Festspiele

Semiramide Rossini

Public

Semiramis

German

English

Approved

Rossini is wrongly restricted to his talent as a buffa composer, his seria operas are wrongly overshadowed by BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA. The composer's successful oeuvre spans between his first opera IL CAMBIALE DI MATRIMONIO [Venice 1810] and his last GUILLAUME TELL [Paris 1829]. It shows twenty years of diverse development in different forms - from ›farsa‹ to opera buffa, opera seria to grand opéra.

Verdi praised Rossini's supple melodic language; his brilliant cantabile singing voices and his characteristic orchestral accompaniment stand for typical Italian sound culture on the opera stage. In 1823 Rossini marked the high point of the genre of the old great Italian song opera with SEMIRAMIDE; the future should demand completely new vocal developments with the interpretation of Wagner and Verdi roles.

The opera seria, which in contrast to the opera buffa as a libretto is typically based on a tragedy with personalities from mythology and history, offers character types in fixed situations: the hero, the heroine, the villain, the supporting characters also correspond to a typification in scope and creation of the lots. In the foreground of the stage effect, however, are artistic coloraturas and culinary embellishments, which let the psychological and dramaturgical development recede into the background. The virtuosic, capricious prima donna was the measure of all things for composers, theater directors and audiences in bel canto opera.

Rossini, who saw himself as the “last among the classics”, chose archaic material for his masterpiece SEMIRAMIDE, as if made for an “opera monumentale”: the legendary Babylonian queen of the Assyrians as the title character, entangled in complicated power intrigues and family conflicts. The voice of blood sounds, that of the divine oracle and that of human passions. The plot features regicide, unconscious incest and accidental mother-killing to give the composer the opportunity for theatrical situations with scenes of abysmal madness, richly ornamented vows of love, passionate revenge arias and brilliantly effective choral scenes. SEMIRAMIDE is »the last opera in the great baroque tradition, the most beautiful, the most imaginative, possibly the most perfect;

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble