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Semiramide

SemiramidePhoto: Annemie Augustijns

Part of EIF 2011

In a world of politics, lust, violence and murder, Queen Semiramide rules over Babylon - a broken society in which the desires and cravings of the elite are destroyed by their own intrigues and machinations. It's a world waiting to be punished.

Having murdered her husband, Semiramide seized power with her lover Assur. Meanwhile Arsace, the son Semiramide thought was dead, returns to court as a young soldier. As Semiramide falls in love with her own son, the ghost of his murdered father, King Nino, warns that crimes must be avenged. Read more …

With echoes of Oedipus, Phaedra, Hamlet and Macbeth, Semiramide is Shakespearean in its atmosphere. Rossini's use of the chorus is masterful and evocative of classical Greek drama, propelling the action as the tragedy unfolds.

In Semiramide, Rossini's music achieves an epic power that makes this melodramma tragico among his most intense and passionate scores. Renowned Rossini interpreter Alberto Zedda conducts Nigel Lowery's inventive production, laced with contemporary political allusions.

More information on this production is available at eif.co.uk.

The critical consensus

Despite the obstacles, the principals succeed in conveying the twists and turns of the plot, echoing in it their emotional development. If they are ably supported by a large and well-used chorus, the whole still provokes inappropriate laughter.

Thom Dibdin, The Stage, 02/09/2011

Where and when?

Festival Theatre, Edinburgh from Thursday August 25, 2011, until Saturday August 27, 2011. No performance August 26, 2011. More info: http://www.edtheatres.com/festival

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