ROH Semiramide

[gurnemanz]

I can't resist posting something about this opera which we saw on Saturday. We hardly knew the work at all, except for the overture and it was great to come to it quite fresh. I can see why it is not done often; it is very long and there is some incoherence of plot and characterisation, but it was a superb evening of singing and playing, even if the staging was idiosyncratic at times. Joyce DiDonato whom we last saw in a wheelchair for Rosina in The Barber of Seville, was on spellbinding form and there were no weaknesses elsewhere with beautiful contributions for example from Daniela Barcellona and Lawrence Brownlee.

[jean]

I'm so upset that this won't be relayed to cinemas, though next spring's Met production will be - with a 'stellar' cast none of whom I've ever heard of!

[underthecountertenor]

I'm so upset that this won't be relayed to cinemas, though next spring's Met production will be - with a 'stellar' cast none of whom I've ever heard of!

I dread to think what Ryan Speedo Green will be wearing. Or won't be wearing.

[bluestateprommer]

On RSG, folks might want to check out a few NYT articles on him (none explain the middle name, FWIW):

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/magazine/an-american-idol-just-for-opera.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/01/arts/music/ryan-speedo-green-metropolitan-opera-sing-for-your-life.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/09/books/review/daniel-bergner-sing-for-your-life-ryan-speedo-green.html

[johnn10]

I'm so upset that this won't be relayed to cinemas, though next spring's Met production will be - with a 'stellar' cast none of whom I've ever heard of!

Jean, in my experience from the Met website all the casts are stellar, the productions definitive and any unfamiliar work is of course a forgotten masterpiece. All of this with liberal use of exclamation marks.