Cast

Aïda, an Ethiopian slave

Radamès, Captain of the Guards

The King of Egypt

Amneris, his daughter

Ramfis, High Priest

Amonasro, King of Ethiopia

Nina Stemme, soprano

Salvatore Licitra, tenor

Günther Groissböck , bass

Luciana D'Intino, mezzo-soprano

Matti Salminen, bass

Juan Pons, baritone

Production

A 2006 production from the Zurich Opera

Directed by Nicolas Joel

Stage design by Ezio Frigerio

Costumes by Franca Squarciapino

Lighting design by Hans-Rudolf Kunz

Choreography by Stefano Giannetto

Orchestra and Chorus of the Zurich Opera
conducted by Adàm Fischer

Synopsis

ACT 1

Scene 1: A hall in the King's palace

Ramfis, the high priest, tells Radam�s that war seems inevitable; Radam�s hopes he will be chosen as the Egyptian commander. He dreams of gaining victory on the battlefield and of Aïda, with whom he is secretly in love.

Aïda, also secretly in love with Radam�s, is the captured daughter of the Ethiopian King Amonasro, but her captors are unaware of her true identity. Amneris, daughter of the Egyptian King, also loves Radam�s but fears that his heart belongs to someone else. Amneris suspects that Aïda could be her rival but is able to hide her jealousy.

The King enters, along with Ramfis, and the court. A messenger announces that the Ethiopians, led by Amonasro, are marching towards Thebes. The King proclaims that Radam�s is the man chosen by the goddess Isis to be the leader of the army. Radam�s goes to the temple of Vulcan to take up the sacred arms. Alone, Aïda is torn between her love for her father, her country and Radam�s.

Scene 2: Inside the Temple

Solemn ceremonies and dances by the priestesses take place, followed by the installation of Radam�s to the office of commander-in-chief. All present pray for the victory of Egypt and protection for their warriors.

ACT 2

Scene 1: The chamber of Amneris

Amneris still wonders whether Aïda is in love with Radames. When Aïda enters, Amneris tells Aïda that Radam�s has died in the battle. In grief, and shocked by the news, Aïda confesses that her heart belongs to Radam�s eternally. This fires Amneris with rage, and she plans revenge on Aïda.

Scene 2: The grand gate of the city of Thebes

Radam�s returns victorious. The Egyptian King decrees that on this day the triumphant Radam�s may have anything he wishes. The captives are rounded up, Amonasro among them. Aïda rushes to her father, but their true identities are still unknown to the Egyptians. Amonasro declares that the Ethiopian King has been slain in battle. When the Egyptians call for the captives' death, Radam�s pleads with the King to spare their lives and to set them free. The King declares Radam�s to be his successor and to be his daughter's betrothed; Aïda and Amonasro remain as hostages.

ACT 3

On the banks of the Nile, near the Temple of Isis

Aïda waits to meet Radam�s. Amonasro appears and makes Aïda agree to find out the location of the Egyptian army. When Radames arrives, he affirms that he will marry Aïda; Aïda convinces him to flee to the desert with her. Radam�s proposes that they use a safe route and reveals where his army has chosen to attack.

Amonasro comes out of hiding and reveals his identity. Amneris and Ramfis, seeing Radam�s with their enemy, call the guards. Amonasro and Aïda try to convince Radam�s to escape with them, but he refuses and surrenders to the imperial guards.

ACT 4

Scene 1: A hall in the Temple of Justice. To one side is the door leading to Radam�s' prison cell

Amneris desires to save Radam�s She calls for the guard to bring him to her, and asks Radam�s to deny the accusations; he refuses. He is relieved to know Aïda is still alive and hopes she has reached her own country.

Radam�s' trial takes place offstage; he does not reply to Ramfis' accusations and is condemned to death, while Amneris pleads with the priests to show him mercy. As he is sentenced to be buried alive, Amneris curses the priests.

Scene 2: The lower portion of the stage shows the vault in the Temple of Vulcan; the upper portion represents the temple itself

Radam�s has been taken into the lower floor of the temple and sealed up in a dark vault, where he thinks that he is alone. As he hopes that Aïda is in a safer place, he hears a sigh and then sees Aïda. She has hidden herself in the vault in order to die with Radam�s. They accept their terrible fate and bid farewell to Earth and its sorrows. Above the vault in the temple of Vulcan, Amneris weeps and prays to the goddess Isis. In the vault below, Aïda dies in Radam�s' arms.

Click here to watch Nina Stemme, Salvatore Licitra, Luciana D'Intino and Juan Pons in the Act II finale
of this production of Aïda

Salvatore Licitra (Radames) and Nina Stemme (Aida)

Salvatore Licitra as Radam�s
and Nina Stemme as Aïda

New York writer, broadcaster and lecturer Nimet Habachy, a native of Cairo, writes of ...

Aïda and its role in Egyptian history

It begins with Napoleon's arrival in Egypt in 1798 at the age of 29 with 300 ships, 40,000 soldiers, 100 savants and a dream of digging a canal between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean that would open up the east to the rest of the world. Napoleon eventually abandoned his dream and Egypt. But he had irrevocably opened Egypt to the west.

The ruler who followed Napoleon was Mohammad Ali, the first in a dynasty that ended with King Farouk in 1952. Ali�s unprepossessing son, Said Pasha gave his consent to the building of the Canal, but did not live to see its completion.

Said's successor, the young Khedive (viceroy) Ismail, who came to power in 1863, desperately wanted the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 to be a show of royal splendor, attended preferably by all the crowned heads of Europe. He dreamt of "Paris on the Nile." He spared no expenses and he could afford not to. The federal blockade of the southern ports in the United States during the Civil war had forced the mills of England to abandon Dixie in favor of Egypt. Ismail�s lavish plans included the commissioning of an opera on an Egyptian theme preferably by Giuseppe Verdi. If Verdi refused, then Gounod or Wagner would do. Verdi was offered a tantalizing libretto probably penned by the journalist turned Egyptologist, August Mariette. Negotiations with Verdi went on while Ismail made ready to play host to the world.

The irony is that the opening of the Suez Canal went on without a new opera, because Europe was mired in the Franco-Prussian war and no sets or costumes could be transported across the Mediterranean. Ismail had to settle for a performance of Verdi�s Rigoletto at the brand new opera house he had built for the occasion. It was the Arabian Nights atmosphere that he had hoped for, culminating in a parade of 67 ships sailing up the Suez Canal. Overwhelmed by the sight, the visiting French Empress Eugénie (wife of Napoleon III) wrote: "The spectacle was so supremely magnificent, and proclaimed so proudly the greatness of the French Régime!!!" The French régime of her husband would fall the very next year and she would be remembered as France's last empress.

Also, a year later, the Khedive got to stage the première of his Egypt themed opera, Aïda. Ismail desperately sought to entice Verdi to attend the opening in Cairo, but the maestro refused, stating that he feared being mummified.

The Khedive had spent an enormous fortune in the course of his reign, most especially on the opening of the Canal and on the opera and soon was bankrupt. In order to attempt to settle his debts to the European bankers, Ismail was, in effect, forced to sell the Suez Canal to the British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, who bought it with money borrowed from the House of Rothschild. History and economic politics conspired to bring the European takeover of Egypt and Aïda played her part by adding to the debt that Ismail could never hope to repay. I should state, however, that once the invaluable canal was built, Europe's takeover of Egypt was inevitable. Egypt's debt to Europe was merely an excuse.

The end of the Mohammad Ali Dynasty's nominal rule in Egypt, and of England's virtual rule, came in 1952 when the so-called Free Officers under Mohammad Naguib, Gamal Abd el Nasser and Anwar el Sadat, among others, mounted a coup.

I forgive Verdi and his opera. They may have added to the Khedive Ismail's enormous bill owed to the Europeans which led to Europe�s domination of Egypt. But I have to admit that we are all the richer for that glorious music.

- Nimet Habachy in WQXR Operavore, Oct 10 2013

NEXT MEETING: TUE MAY 24, 7.30 pm

The Marriage of Figaro

Giorgio Strehler's legendary 1980 La Scala production of Mozart's masterpiece was restaged by Marina Bianchi in 2006. It features leading Mozartians Diana Damrau and Ildebrando D'Arcangelo as the conniving servant couple Susanna and Figaro, with Pietro Spagnoli and Marcella Orsatti Talamanca as the Count and Countess Almaviva. Sheer delight!