“The opera stage is perhaps the only space in American culture today where such overt racial imitation is routinely performed without comment or query,” write the editors Naomi André, Karen M. The company does want to be clear that it is doing away with the practice of changing the appearance of our singers’ race through makeup or wigs, a practice that has been commonplace in opera. The company (and the industry) is aware that we have much work to do to be more representative of our community in our casts and creative teams, and our leadership is taking steps to work toward this goal. It is important to recognize that the barriers that were initially in place for African American opera singers continue to play a role in the field today. (In the U.S., the first African American singer didn’t sing the title role at the Met until 87 years after its world premiere.) With Aida, we often don’t see a cast that reflects the racial makeup of Egypt and Ethiopia. For instance, in reality people don’t communicate by singing and the language of choice for people living in Egypt isn’t Italian, but we “go with it” because that’s part of the opera package. Realism and opera have always had a slippery relationship, and we often accept where the two diverge. In Aida he created a work that is almost Biblical in its depiction of ancient populations at war and peace, in bondage and liberation and at the same time startlingly contemporary in its condemnation of Fascist war-mongering and its compassion for slaves and refugees. He responded deeply, however, to stories about oppressive governmental or religious structures crushing fragile individual human souls. What drew Verdi to this subject? He had written loads of operas that doubled as propaganda for Italian unification but personally Verdi didn’t have strong feelings about Egypt or Ethiopia. Verdi was only one of the prestigious composers the Egyptians considered had he turned them down, next on their list were the Frenchman Charles Gounod and the German Richard Wagner. Verdi, who hated sailing, finally heard it the following year, in Milan.) Cairo finally gave the world premiere of Aida two years later. Thanks to this delay, the new opera house opened with Verdi’s Rigoletto instead. (He ended up getting stuck in Paris because of the Franco-Prussian War. After outlining the plot, archeologist Mariette went back to Paris, the opera capital of the world in thoseĭays, to oversee construction of sets and costumes at the Paris Opéra. New opera houses traditionally open with new operas, and an Egyptian subject seemed like a good idea. The creation of the Suez Canal, in the 1860s, was a victory for the French, and the Khedive of Egypt honored the canal’s construction by building a new opera house in Cairo. Although nineteenth-century Egypt was theoretically part of the Ottoman Empire, the Brits and the French had been competing to control the area since Napoleon’s men unearthed the Rosetta Stone in 1799. This most Italian of all operas began with the French in Egypt. Where, When, & Why was this opera written? He is sentenced to death Aida steals into the tomb where he is to be walled up alive, and together they asphyxiate. Furious, she has Radames tried as a traitor (although she offers him a pardon if he will love her). By chance, Amneris witnesses this espionage. On the eve of the wedding, Amonasro manipulates Aida into helping him discover Radames’s battle plans. Radames’s own king, grateful for his general’s valiant service in battle, declares that Radames shall wed his daughter Amneris. He brings many prisoners of war, among them Aida’s father Amonasro. Our story begins as Amneris begins to suspect the handsome captain loves Aida under a pretense of friendliness, Amneris manages to trick Aida into revealing her feelings for Radames.Ĭostume designs for Seattle Opera's 2018 production of Aida. But Radames is in love with Amneris’s captive attendant, Aida, who returns his love-despite the fact that Radames’s army is attacking Aida’s own people, from a rival kingdom to the south. Princess Amneris has fallen for Radames, the great warrior leading her kingdom’s armies on to battle and glory. Radames, a military leader, loves Aida despite being at war with her people.Īmneris, daughter of the king, is in love with Radames.Īmonasro is Aida’s father and-don’t tell his captors-leader of a rival kingdom. Washington National Opera, Aida, 2017 © Scott Suchman Who’s Who?Īida, once a foreign princess, now held captive by the enemy, loves Radames.

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