Royal Opera

Aida

In Cinemas 12, 13 & 16 Nov 2022
Conductor
Antonio Pappano
Orchestra
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Cast
Elena Stikhina (Aida), Francesco Meli (Radames), Agnieszka Rehlis (Amneris), Ludovic Tézier (Amonasro), Solomon Howard (Ramfis), In Sung Sim (King of Egypt), Andrés Presno (Messenger), Francesca Chiejina (High Priestess)
Composer
Giuseppe Verdi
Director
Robert Carsen
Set Design
Miriam Buether
Duration
3h33 including an interval
Sung in Italian, with English subtitles
Captured live from Covent Garden, London, 12 Oct 2022
Official Event Listing
  • Truly exceptional. This is an Aida for the 21st century, with many pertinent things to say about oppression and nationalism.
    Stephen Pritchard, BACHTRACK
    Outstanding. Extremely clever and compellingly drawn... A radical, stimulating staging.
    Nicholas Kenyon, THE TELGRAPH
    From the first, beautifully turned phrases in the strings, the orchestral playing is of the highest quality and Antonio Pappano paces the opera with surges of rousing urgency. Even more impressive is the chorus, breathtaking and glorious.
    Richard Fairman, THE FINANCIAL TIMES
    A must-see! Powerful and profound, grand and intimate, all at the same time. Pappano's reading of the score is incisive and insightful.
    Clive Paget, LIMELIGHT

Opera in four acts (1871)

New production! Love and duty collide – and nations clash – in Verdi’s political drama.

Princess Aida (outstanding soprano Elena Stikhina) has been kidnapped: a valuable prize in a war between Egypt and Ethiopia. Meanwhile, the ambitious soldier Radames (Francesco Meli) wrestles with his feelings for her. As they draw closer together, each must make an agonizing choice between their loyalty to home, and their love for each other.

In this new production, director Robert Carsen situates Verdi’s large-scale political drama within a contemporary world, dramatising the pull between public duty and private passion, and framing its power struggles and toxic jealousies against the backdrop of a modern, totalitarian state. Bringing together an astonishing creative team that includes multi-award-winning costume designer Annemarie Woods and Olivier Award-nominated set designer Miriam Buether, it is one of the major highlights, and much-anticipated works, in the Royal Opera House’s 2022/23 Season. 

Royal Opera Music Director Antonio Pappano conducts Verdi’s glorious, monumental score.

Royal Opera

The Royal Opera is one of the world’s leading opera companies. Based in London’s iconic Royal Opera House (1858) in Covent Garden, it is renowned both for its outstanding performances of traditional opera and for commissioning new works by today’s leading opera composers, such as Harrison Birtwistle, Mark-Anthony Turnage and Thomas Adès.

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