Language: Italian
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish

Semiramide is an opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto by Gaetano Rossi is based on Voltaire's tragedy Semiramis, which in turn was based on the legend of Semiramis of Assyria. The opera was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on 3 February 1823.

Semiramide was Rossini's final Italian opera and according to Richard Osborne, "could well be dubbed Tancredi Revisited". As in Tancredi, Rossi's libretto was based on a Voltaire tragedy. The music took the form of a return to vocal traditions of Rossini's youth, and was a melodrama in which he "recreated the baroque tradition of decorative singing with unparalleled skill". The ensemble-scenes (particularly the duos between Arsace and Semiramide) and choruses are of a high order, as is the orchestral writing, which makes full use of a large pit.

After this splendid work, one of his finest in the genre, Rossini turned his back on Italy and moved to Paris. Apart from Il viaggio a Reims, which is still in Italian, his last operas were either original compositions in French or extensively reworked adaptations into French of earlier Italian operas.

Musicologist Rodolfo Celletti sums up the importance of Semiramide by stating that it "was the last opera of the great Baroque tradition: the most beautiful, the most imaginative, possibly the most complete; but also, irremediably, the last."

The day appointed by the gods when Queen Semiramide must give up her throne and choose a successor to rule Assyria, and marry Princess Azema, has arrived. At the great festival of Baal, the queen will declare who is to rule, and there will be a wedding and a coronation. But, Queen Semiramide falters. She knows who she wants to be the next king. It is not the malevolent and deceitful Prince Assur, although he thinks that their history has earned him the right. It also is not the kind-hearted Idreno, despite his honest and sincere love for Azema. No, she wants to crown the man she loves, Arsace, the commander of her army, but only if she rules by his side.

The mysterious circumstances surrounding King Nino’s death, 15 years before, give the priest Oroe cause for concern. He knows that unless the dead are resting peacefully, they will not stay buried. Putting his faith in the gods, he knows that the truth identity of those who poisoned the king and kidnapped his son and heir, Ninia, will be revealed at the appropriate time, and the right man will be crowned King of Assyria.

Direction: Nicola Raab (Director), Domingo Hindoyan (Music Director)
Cast: Salome Jicia: Semiramide, Franco Fagioli: Arsace, Nahuel Di Pierro: Assur, Matthew Grills: Idreno, Choir of the Opéra national de Lorraine, Choir of the Metz Métropole Opera-Theater, Nancy Symphony and Lyric Orchestra