<\/p>
When Joan Sutherland<\/a><\/strong> sang the title role of Donizetti<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s tragic melodrama at the Royal Opera House on 17 February 1959, she brought the house down. She also gave Covent Garden audiences their first experience of the opera since a single performance in 1925. This was the role that made Sutherland an international star, and she returned to it frequently, including for her debuts at the Paris Op\u00e9ra, La Scala and the Met, singing it 221 times in all.<\/span><\/p>\n Rossini<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s most ornate Italian opera had long fallen out of fashion when Sutherland took on the challenge of its title role at La Scala<\/a><\/strong> in 1962. Two years later, in New York, she sang it in concert opposite Marilyn Horne, repeating it in stagings in Boston and Chicago. Already dubbed by the mezzo the \u2018druid duo\u2019 for their appearances together in Norma<\/i>, Sutherland\u2019s flawlessly matched teamwork with Horne in Semiramide <\/i>has passed into operatic legend.<\/span><\/p>\nSemiramide<\/span><\/h2>\n