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Organization

Singer

Soprano

Cigdem Soyarslan

Semiramide

Gan-ya Ben-gur Akselrod

Tamiri

Tenor

Andrew Owens

Scitalce

Countertenor

Rupert Enticknap

Mirteo

Igor Bakan

Ircano

Mezzo-soprano

Gaia Petrone

Sibari

Conductor

Alan Curtis

Stage director

Francesco Micheli

Set designer

Costume designer

Libretto

Pietro Trapassi

MusikTheater an der Wien

Italian

Semiramide -  (Semiramis)

Vienna

Austria

Theater am Fleischmarkt

Semiramis

German

Approved

Few libretti were set to music more often in the 18th century than Metastasio's adaptation of the Semiramis material. Among the numerous composers there are also names such as Porpora, Myslivecek, Hasse or Gluck. Decades later, even Rossini and Meyerbeer saw the story of the legendary Assyrian queen as an ideal model. Metastasio has combined the elements of the Semiramis myth on which his drama is based into an extremely complicated plot rich in confusion and entanglement. Nevertheless, this libretto applies not only in its consistent and clear presentation of the two strands (here the events about Semiramis, there Tamiri's choice of spouse), but also because of the delayed delay until Lieto fine
public unmasking of the supposed king as a prime example of a “dramma per musica”.

The Egyptian princess Semiramis has seized control of Assyria, but pretends to be a man. Tamiri, the future regent of the Assyria tributary Bactria, is to
choose her future husband from among three applicants in Babylon . But when Tamiri chooses Scitalce, a prince from India, in whom Semiramis recognizes her former lover, Semiramis tries to prevent this. This triggers a series of intrigues and deceptions, in the course of which Semiramis' supposed confidante, Sibari, is exposed as a villain.

Handel also took up Metastasio's promising model in 1733. However, in the form of a co-production of big names of the time, which is based on Leonardo Vinci's setting of the popular material from 1729, but also contains some successful numbers by Johann Adolf Hasse. The recitatives are all from Handel's pen. His hope of achieving a resounding success for his company with which he could keep the competition in check, however, was disappointed. His own followers were fixated on Handel's compositions, while those whom he hoped to win with the music of the new Italians stayed away, not least out of loyalty to the competition. The American conductor and Handel specialist Alan Curtis has made it his mission

English

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew