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Royal Ballet and Opera

Costumes

Décors (+1)

Annemarie Woods

Lumières

Mise en scène (+4)

Robert Carsen

Lumières (+3)

Peter van Praet

Video

Duncan McLean

Chorégraphie

Rebecca Howell

Mise en scène

Direction d'orchestre

Direction d'orchestre (+2)

Daniel Oren

Soprano (+1)

Anna Pirozzi

Aïda

Baryton

Amartuvshin Enkhbat

Amonasro

Basse (+1)

Alexander Köpeczi

Ramfis

Basse (+3)

George Andguladze

Le Roi d'Égypte

Soprano

Khayakazi Madlala

La Grande Prêtresse

Ténor (+1)

Andrés Presno

Un Messager

Orchestra

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Royal Opera House

Chorus

Chorus of the Royal Opera House

Mezzo-soprano (+5)

Raehann Bryce-Davis

Amnéris

Chef de chœur

Chef de chœur (+2)

William Spaulding

Riccardo Massi

Radamès

Ténor

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 While many contemporary iterations of Aida have seen directors stage Verdi’s story of love and war outside of a more outdated ‘Egyptian’ (read: elephants, pyramids) landscape, Izzo acknowledges that there can still be ‘little doubt that when the curtain rises at the beginning of the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 (Aïda), Verdi

Distribution

Aida

Amonasro

Ramfis

Il Re d'Egitto

Una sacerdotessa

Un messaggero

Amneris

Radamès

Équipage

Mise en scène

Direction d'orchestre

Costumes

Chef de chœur

Lumières

Chorégraphie

Video

Instrumentation

Producteur

Producteur

Ensemble

Orchestre

Chœur

Coproducteur

À propos de

Compositeur

Livret

Description

Synopsis de la Production