Paris Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Main informations
First performed at the Cairo Opera in 1871 to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal, Aida draws us into the fantasy of a reconstructed Antiquity. At the heart of the plot, an impossible choice between love and patriotic duty: A captive Ethiopian princess and an Egyptian soldier betray their people, defy a powerful rival and unite until death. Marked by the contrast between a theatrical extravaganza and the transition towards a more intimate, personal drama, Verdi’s score manages to distinguish the inner angst of its protagonists from the imposing historical setting. The work brings together several themes dear to the composer: nostalgia for a lost homeland, deliverance through death, the contrast between a dispiriting present and an idealized elsewhere, the stifling reach of religious and political power, the regulating factors in a world intentionally littered with pitfalls.
For her Paris Opera debut, Dutch director Lotte de Beer has chosen to cast a critical eye on the European portrayal of colonised peoples, encouraging us to rethink our relationship with aesthetic productions of the past and present.
Opera in four acts (1871)
Music / Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto / Antonio Ghislanzoni
After Auguste Mariette
Conductor / Michele Mariotti
Stage director / Lotte de Beer
Sets and video / Christof Hetzer
Visual artist / Virginia Chihota
Costumes / Jorine van Beek
Lighting design / Alex Brok
Dramaturgy / Peter te Nuyl
Puppetry design and direction / Mervyn Millar
Chorus master / José Luis Basso
Orchestre et Chœurs de l’Opéra national de Paris
Film director / François-René Martin
Presented by Alain Duault
Il re / Soloman Howard
Amneris / Ksenia Dudnikova
Aida / Sondra Radvanovsky
Radamès / Jonas Kaufmann
Ramfis / Dmitry Belosselskiy
Amonasro / Ludovic Tézier
Un messaggero / Alessandro Liberatore
Sacerdotessa / Roberta Mantegna