Organization

Cantante

Soprano

Krassimira Stoyanova

Aida

Tenore

Francesco Meli

Radamès

Baritono

Quinn Kelsey

Amonasro

Basso

Georg Zeppenfeld

Ramfis

Alexandros Stavrakakis

Il Re d'Egitto

Ambrogio Maestri

Andreas Bauer Kanabas

Mezzosoprano

Anna Smirnova

Amneris

Jorge de León

Stefano La Colla

Direzione d'orchestra

Christian Thielemann

Regia

Katharina Thalbach

Scenografia

Ezio Toffolutti

Costumi

Luci

Fabio Antoci

Direzione del coro

André Kellinghaus

Coreografia

Christopher Tölle

Drammaturgia

Johann Casimir Eule

Oksana Volkova

Simeon Esper

Un messaggero

Opheliya Pogosyan

Una sacerdotessa

Omer Wellber

Maria José Siri

Leonardo Sini

Jorge Puerta

Christa Mayer

Andrzej Dobber

Alexey Markov

Tilmann Rönnebeck

Tijl Faveyts

Vitalij Kowaljow

Agnieszka Rehlis

Elena Stikhina

Christina Nilsson

Michael Kim

Semperoper Dresden

Others

Bach Choir Salzburg

Extrachor der Semperoper Dresden

Orchestra

Staatskapelle Dresden

Sächsischer Staatsopernchor Dresden

italiano

Dresda

Germania

Semperoper

Semper Zwei

The exotic Nile, passion and pure emotion – these are the secrets to the success of Verdi’s opera Aida. Katharina Thalbach transforms his dramatic love story into an innovative, timely tale. As this is the director’s first collaboration with the conductor, Christian Thielemann, their production of Aida is also an artistic premiere.
The Semperoper’s new staging of Aida is an exciting debut right across the board. It marks the first collaboration between the Berlin actress and director, Katharina Thalbach, and the world-famous conductor, Christian Thielemann, for both of whom this four-act operatic tour de force is new terrain. Thalbach says the work made her feel like an archaeologist and that staging such a great human drama about the impossibility of choosing between love, passion, loyalty, and patriotic duty was a real challenge. In her interpretation of the work, the tragic love of Aida, an enslaved Ethiopian princess, and the Egyptian army general, Radames, reflects the critical situation of the modern individual. The opera is thus a plea for the utopian power of love.

Thalbach is a scion of one of Germany’s best-known families of actors, directors, and playwrights. She has put her versatility as a director to the test many times before. Whether it is Macbeth, her debut as a director, The Cunning Little Vixen, or a Don Giovanni that connected Mozart to Techno, her stagings are always imaginative and full of poetry and comedy.

As was to be expected, the Dresden Aida stars some of the world’s finest singers. The title role is sung by Bulgarian soprano Krassimira Stoyanova, who is joined by Francesco Meli as Radamès and Georg Zeppenfeld as Ramfis. The stage sets and costumes are the work of Ezio Toffolutti, who has previously worked for such big-name directors as Harry Kupfer and Nikolaus Lehnhoff.

Christmas Eve, 1871. In Cairo’s newly built opera house, the curtain rises on the premiere of Giuseppe Verdi’s »Aida«. This is a turning point in cultural history, when an occidental passion for exoticism and an oriental interest in European high culture come together to create great art. Very few works of opera have achieved such widespread popularity. And rightly so: with its thrilling musical effects, exotic sounds and tableaux, the colourful instrumentation and monumental scenes alternating with moments of great intimacy, »Aida« is a true musical and dramatic treasure trove. And that’s not all. Through the tragic love affair between the Ethiopian princess Aida and the Egyptian army commander Radamès, torn between the interests of state, church and family, Giuseppe Verdi reflects on the crisis-ridden plight of the modern individual, ending with a highly moving plea for the utopian power of love.

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