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Royal Ballet and Opera

Costume designer

Set designer (+1)

Annemarie Woods

Lighting designer

Stage director (+4)

Robert Carsen

Lighting designer (+3)

Peter van Praet

Video

Duncan McLean

Choreographer

Rebecca Howell

Stage director

Conductor

Conductor (+2)

Daniel Oren

Soprano (+1)

Anna Pirozzi

Aida

Baritone

Amartuvshin Enkhbat

Amonasro

Bass (+1)

Alexander Köpeczi

Ramfis

Bass (+3)

George Andguladze

The King of Egypt

Soprano

Khayakazi Madlala

A high priestess

Tenor (+1)

Andrés Presno

A messenger

Orchestra

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Royal Opera House

Chorus

Royal Opera Chorus

Mezzo-soprano (+5)

Raehann Bryce-Davis

Amneris

Chorusmaster

Chorusmaster (+2)

William Spaulding

Riccardo Massi

Radames

Tenor

Jorge de León

Robert Carsen’s ‘transformative’ (Financial Times) production situates Verdi’s large-scale political drama in a contemporary world, framing power struggles and toxic jealousies in a modern, totalitarian state. Daniel Oren conducts Verdi’s monumental score, with Anna Pirozzi as Aida, Riccardo Massi as Radames, Ekaterina Semenchuk as Amneris and Amartuvshin Enkhbat as Amonasro.

AN EGYPTIAN OPERA?
‘Cyprus; Spain; Jerusalem; Paris; the banks of the Euphrates; Mantua. The operas of Giuseppe Verdi are set in a variety of diverse locales, depicted in some detail in the set descriptions contained in the librettos,’ writes Francesco Izzo, in his Aida programme article. While many contemporary iterations of Aida have seen directors stage Verdi’s story of love and war outside of a more outdated ‘Egyptian’ (read: elephants, pyramids) landscape, Izzo acknowledges that there can still be ‘little doubt that when the curtain rises at the beginning of the opera a sizeable majority of the audience will be expecting to find some rendition of the set description found in the libretto: “A hall in the King’s palace in Memphis …A large gate at the back, through which the temples and palaces of Memphis and the pyramids are visible.”’  

A STARK SPECTACLE
The appeal, surely, is spectacle, the grand columns of said temples and palaces and colourful dance and chorus scenes the perfect recipe for a crowd-pleaser. But strip this away – as in Robert Carsen’s stark and deliberately cold staging – and Aida, at its core, is still a rich and deeply immersive story. Much like Verdi’s other popular operas (think Don Carlo, La forza del destino and Rigoletto), Aida captivates audiences with its tragic love story and with its poignant exploration of the unbreakable bond between father and daughter. It is these enduring themes, in the end, that allow us to think of Aida not as an ‘Egyptian’ opera, but a human one.

Aida, Verdi

Cast

Aida

Amonasro

Ramfis

Il Re d'Egitto

Una sacerdotessa

Un messaggero

Amneris

Radamès

Crew

Stage director

Conductor

Costume designer

Chorusmaster

Lighting designer

Choreographer

Video

Instrumentation

Producer

Producer

Ensemble

Orchestra

Chorus

Co-Producer

About

Composer

Librettist

Description

Production synopsis