Bilbao’s Palacio Euskalduna continues its 2018/2019 opera season this week with four performances of Semiramide, a two-act work by Gioachino Rossini that was premiered in 1823 and tells the story of the Queen of Babylon, the eponymous Semiramide.
Rossini wrote this work during a more serious period of his career, when he’d turned away from his early comic operas in part as a result of collaborating with soprano Isabella Colbran, who the composer later married. Semiramide was the final opera that Rossini composed in Italy before moving to Paris.
The production in Bilbao is the work of ABAO-OLBE, the Asociación Bilbaina de Amigos de la Ópera, and is part of the organisation’s 67th operatic season in the city.
The cast is headed by Italian soprano Silva dalla Benetta in the titular role, replacing the US singer Angela Meade who had to withdraw due to illness.
When: 16, 19, 22, 25 February; 7.30pm
Where: Palacio Euskalduna
More info: www.euskalduna.eus