A gaudy stand-and-sing Semiramide at the Met

Angela Meade (Semiramide)

Ildar Abdrazakov (Assur) and Angela Meade (Semiramide)

Semiramide at The Met

Javier Camarena (Idreno) and Ryan Speedo Green (Oroe)

By Ilana Walder-Biesanz, 20 February 2018

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“Elizabeth DeShong deployed a voice of dark chocolate: smooth, complex, and delicious”

Reviewed at Lincoln Center: Metropolitan Opera House, New York City on 19 February 2018

Rossini, Semiramide

Metropolitan Opera

Maurizio Benini, Conductor

John Copley, Director

John Conklin, Set Designer

Michael Stennett, Costume Designer

Angela Meade, Semiramide

Ryan Speedo Green, Oroe

Ildar Abdrazakov, Assur

Javier Camarena, Idreno

Elizabeth DeShong, Arsace

The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

The Metropolitan Opera Chorus

Roy Rallo, Revival Director

Asmik Grigorian strengthens the Met’s revival of Eugene Onegin

Susan Stempleski, 20th April

The Lithuanian soprano’s riveting performance as the central character in Tchaikovsky’s operatic masterpiece lights up Deborah Warner’s mostly bland production.

****1

Innocence: Saariaho’s final opera receives New York premiere

Kurt Gottschalk, 6th April

At the Metropolitan Opera, Innocence proves a gripping and perhaps divisive piece which feels real because it is a reflection of our reality, with no realistic hope of finding peace.

*****

Tristan und Isolde at the Met: staging gets in the way of the music

No’a L. bat Miri, 9th March

Michael Spyres shines in his debut as Tristan alongside powerhouse soprano Lise Davidsen as Isolde in Yuval Sharon's new, beguiling production at the Metropolitan Opera.

***11

Ailyn Pérez is the perfect Butterfly in the Met’s revival

Robert Levine, 13th January

Good Butterflys are not that difficult to come by but great ones are very very rare. Ailyn Pérez fits the bill in this revival of Anthony Minghella’s classic staging.

*****

Vocal thrills in Met’s traditional staging of Bellini’s I puritani

Susan Stempleski, 31st December

Marco Armiliato conducts a finely balanced rendition of Bellini's final masterpiece with a stellar cast headed by Lisette Oropesa and Lawrence Brownlee.

*****

Porgy and Bess returns stronger than ever at the Met

Robert Levine, 7th December

Back to Catfish Row for another revival of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess and James Robinson’s show continue to wow our writer.

*****

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Ilana Walder-Biesanz

Ilana Walder-Biesanz is a product manager for Yahoo, a theatre and opera critic, and a classically trained mezzo-soprano. She explored theater and opera stagings as a Gates Scholar at Cambridge and as a Fulbright Scholar in Germany. She currently writes for Bachtrack, San Francisco Classical Voice, and Stark Insider. Twitter: @ilana_wb.