Metropolitan Opera – Rossini’s Semiramide. February 28, 2018.

Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center.  Balcony (Seat C109, $110.50).

Story.  Semiramide, queen of Babylon, together with Assur, murdered her husband Nino.  Their son Arsace returns from victory in battle.  He and Indian Prince Idreno are in love with Princess Azema, Assur would like to marry Semiramide, and the queen loves Arsace (she doesn’t know Arsace is her son).  The queen announces that Azema is to marry Idreno while she will marry Arsace, which leaves many peple in despair.  The priest Oroe tells Arsace of his father’s murder, and informs him of his duty to avenge, but Arsace doesn’t want to kill his own mother.  Assur appears in the vault underneath Assur’s tomb, with Arsace already hiding there.  When Arsace strikes, he kills Semiramide by accident as she also entered the tomb.  Assur is arrested, and Arsace wants to commit suicide.  He is stopped by the people who also implore Arsace to be their king.

Conductor – Gareth Morrell.  Oroe – Ryan Speedo Green; Idreno – Robert McPherson (replacing Javier Camarena); Assur – Ildar Abdrazakov; Semiramide – Angela Meade; Arsace – Elizabeth DeShong; Azema – Sarah Shafer.

There were two main reasons why I picked this as part of our season’s subscription: one was that I had never seen Semiramide, the other was Angela Meade, who impressed in other operas I had seen.

I was disappointed on both counts.

First, about Angela Meade.  She sang with her usual clarity and force, and her voice was as good as usual.  The disappointment is her inability to act the role in a believable matter.  Semiramide is a complex character, she is sinister, naïve, and vulnerable at different times.  Meade did the arias, duets, and trios well, but the best way to characterize her acting is “wooden.”  Also, she looks too young to be an Semiramide.  (She is 40, but looks younger.)

Regardless of how “great” the Playbill makes Semiramide - it was the “culmination” of the Italian phase of Rossini’s career, it was “epic,” there are “achievements unique to the score” – the fact is what we saw was the Met’s 31^st production, and the set is from 1990.

The set is quite simple, and the designer doesn’t even try to depict what Babylon’s Hanging Gardens look like.

I knew none of the tunes in the opera.  Given how singable many of the tunes are, I do wonder why.  Solo arias turned out to be the exception, most of the numbers are ensembles, which the singers did well.

Rossini’s choice of a mezzo-soprano voice to depict Azema was quite interesting, as I am sure a tenor would foot the bill equally well.  DeShong was believable as Azema despite my confusion with a trouser role.  Her voice lacked the refinement I expect from a well-seasoned singer, though.

 The curtain was raised briefly at the end of the opera.  I managed to get this shot of the stage.

From left: Robert McPherson as Idreno, Elizabeth DeShong as Arsace, Angela Meade as Semiramide, Conductor Gareth Morrell, Ildar Abdrazakov as Assur, Sarah Shafer as Azema, and Ryan Speedo Green as Oroe.

When a friend asked me about the opera, I told him it was a bit slow, and a bit too long.  That was particularly so for Act 1 (each act contains several scenes).  Perhaps my jet lagged state contributed to how I perceived the piece, but I found Act 2 much more compelling.

The New York Times review calls the opera “unglamorous but excellent” in its title, and reminds me that Abdrazakov’s voice is weak at the lower registers.  It also mentions that 45 minutes have been cut from the original score.

We drove in, and bought dinner at a food truck.  It was a bit cold this evening, so we ate at the Rubinstein Atrium.  We also met up with Chung Shu and a few others in Lincoln Plaza, they were there to see a New York Philharmonic concert.