Verdi: Aida -- Royal Opera House [DVD]

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Insula’s Sky Burial at the Barbican is a stunning evening, unique, and vitally important (22/11/2023) Dancers Bradley Applewhaite, Eamonn Cox, Nolan Edwards, Cameron Everitt, Tristan Ghostkeeper, Martin Harding, Vincent Merouze, Chris Otim, Anthony Pereira, Dominic Rocca, Trevor Schoonraad Love across the divide comes in the form of an illicit relationship between an Egyptian officer, Radames, and the daughter of his enemy’s leader, the Aida of the title. Radames is also pursued by his ruler’s daughter, whose hand he is offered in exchange for good service. Updated! English National Ballet in 2023/24: introducing Maria Seletskaja their new music director (07/11/2023) Aïda is an opera of two very distinct halves, the first filled with anxious optimism, love, disappointment, victory, defeat, suffering, suspicion, reward and triumphant marches. It gives a director such as Carsen (and given the sheer number of bodies required to create the spectacle, the chorus director William Spaulding) much to work with, and much work to do, both from the perspective of actors’ performance and visual placement. Here, the overtly military focus has given rise to a set where palaces/bunkers are of concrete grey and costumes predominantly of camouflage green hues, both benefiting from dramatic red accents which are visually arresting, stunning (and thankfully devoid of the hideous gold trappings much favoured in such Middle Eastern locations).

In many ways, Aida is bound up with contemporary history, however. When Ismail Pasha, the new Viceroy of Egypt, arrived in Paris to represent his country at the Exposition universelle in June 1867, the Egyptian pavilion that he had erected on a large corner of the Champs de Mars – featuring, among myriad things, a pharaoh’s temple, a modern-day bazaar, and a panorama of the Isthmus of Suez created by the Suez Canal company – was described by one French commentator as ‘a living Egypt, a picturesque Egypt, the Egypt of Ismail Pasha’. His lavish spectacle was almost certainly designed to present Egypt as a major player on the modern world stage, and this idea also lay behind his commission, two years later, of Verdi’s Aida, which was to be performed in Cairo’s first opera house, positioned beside the recently opened Suez Canal. Chelsea Opera Group’s Un ballo in maschera on 22 October opened their 2023-24 London season (10/10/2023) The artist who represents his country and his time becomes necessarily universal in the present and in the future.’ So Verdi wrote to the Neapolitan painter Domenico Morelli on 27 th February 1871. One hundred and fifty years later, while not everything in this production comes off, Robert Carsen’s Aida might be said to illuminate the rightness of the composer’s words.An international roster of opera stars including Juan Diego Flórezand Danielle de Niese in La bohème, Elena Stikhinaand Ludovic Tézierin Aida ,and Bryn Terfelin The Barber of Seville The safety of our visitors, staff and artists is still our priority. There are hand sanitiser stations throughout the building. To help us provide a comfortable experience for everyone, please be mindful of others and their personal space. Last Updated on May 20, 2023 Stellar performances from Angel Blue and SeokJong Baek in Robert Carsen’s Aida Christian Thielemann to become new General Music Director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden (27/09/2023)

Finding myself with an hour to kill before a performance of Robert Carsen’s new production of Aida at the Royal Opera House earlier this week, I settled down in a small bar in Covent Garden with a glass of wine and a copy of If Not Critical ­– an edition of ten lectures by Eric Griffiths which were originally delivered at the Faculty of English at Cambridge University. ‘A rehearsal of Hamlet’ begins with reflections on the various small changes to the title of Shakespeare’s play – ‘Revenge’, ‘Tragedie’ and ‘True Chronicle Historie’ appeared in turn in early printings – leading Griffiths to reflect on the play’s genre and more generally on the critical opinion in Shakespeare’s time about the boundary between history and poetry. Drawing on Aristotle’s Poetics, he suggests, ‘History tells us what in fact happened, poetry lays out the pattern according to which we could have seen the events coming’. Mezzo-Sopranos Maria Brown, Siobhain Gibson, Zoë Haydn, Maria Jones, Clare McCaldin, Hyacinth Nicholls, Dervla Ramsay, Jennifer Westwood If colour was absent from the stage, then there was plenty of it in the pit where Antonio Pappano mined all the subtleties of the score, from the most delicate string sound to the heights of orchestral opulence. Time and again, the sensitivity of his reading brought balance, and human warmth, to the grim austerity of the design and the tragic tone of the drama. To take just one moment, Aida’s wrenching mourning after she has been condemned by her father: here, the soft darkness of the lower strings and bassoon wonderfully underscored Aida’s desolation and the pathos of her lament.Mark Elder, conducting, seems to have Verdi pumping through his veins. This was his night. He steered the epic moments as well as the subtle, spare scoring of the intimate passages, every moment steeped in maximum drama. Aida devotees will rail against the production – not generally liked much when it was new – and the liberties taken with the plot (I don’t remember Verdi specifying a table-laying scene). But Carsen’s interpretation gives the characters definition and clarity. As one who has always struggled with this work, I found it illuminating. Angel Blue took on the title role of Aida. Vocally there was a bright, gilded edge to the sound; this brought an urgency and intensity to the character, and a palpable sense of desperation. It also meant that Blue had little difficulty clearing the orchestra in the biggest climaxes, even if there were fewer colors and shades available above the stave. The velvety textures and muted colors of her middle register were thoroughly absorbing in more inward moments, especially when joined with Blue’s luxurious portamento . In the very highest reaches her vibrato veered a little wide, and intonation lost its focus as a result. But such foibles aside there were many standout moments. Act three’s “O patria mia” sequence showed glorious musical and dramatic range, as well as the limpid ensuing duet with Radamès. SeokJong Baek’s Radamès also had no trouble being heard. The lyric qualities of the voice took a while to engage – the first rising phrases of “Celeste Aida” could’ve been better oiled and saw a couple of overexposed vowels – but what emerged was power tempered and sustained by committed legato singing. But the warmth and tenderness of the final scene suggested a dramatic journey from the impetuosity of Act one through the anguished conflict of Act three into reconciliation. The performance was dominated by two artists: the Amneris of Elīna Garanča and the conducting of Sir Mark Elder. Elder found such detail in the score – the orchestra played at its very best for him throughout, the opening of the first act beautifully, keenly phrased, the great musical arches of the big choral scenas perfectly traced. Elder is a man of the theatre, and how it showed. As for Elīna Garanča, she dominated the stage throughout, effortlessly, her voice strong, resolute and rich from her first entrance. Worth mentioning, as the Aida on this occasion, Angel Blue, took a little while to warm into the role of the captured Ethiopian princess (also in contrast to Elena Stikhina last time round). Once she had centred herself, though, Blue’s vocal strength was all there (a fine ‘O patria mia’) – a pity she did not show an equal dramatic presence to that of Garanča.