Name: Aida
Start: 2025-01-28T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2025-02-12T00:00:00.000Z
Location: Royal Opera House

Admin

Royal Opera House

Set designer

Miriam Buether

Costume designer

Annemarie Woods

Lighting designer

Robert Carsen

Peter van Praet

Video designer

Duncan McLean

Choreographer

Rebecca Howell

Stage director

Conductor

Daniel Oren

Chorus master

William Spaulding

Singer

Soprano

Anna Pirozzi

Aida

Tenor

Riccardo Massi

Radames

Mezzo-soprano

Ekaterina Semenchuk

Amneris

Baritone

Amartuvshin Enkhbat

Amonasro

Bass

Alexander Köpeczi

Ramfis

George Andguladze

The King of Egypt

Khayakazi Madlala

A high priestess

Andrés Presno

A messenger

Orchestra

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Others

Chorus of the Royal Opera House

Italian

London

United Kingdom

Main Stage

Public

Sharan Allad

English

Approved

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 While many contemporary iterations of Aida have seen directors stage Verdi’s story of love and war outside of a more outdated ‘Egyptian’ (read: elephants, pyramids) landscape, Izzo acknowledges that there can still be ‘little doubt that when the curtain rises at the beginning of the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

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble