Metropolitan Opera Preview: Aida

A new singer debuts in Verdi's grandest opera. 
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The Met ballet corps gets one last dance in Aida.
Photo by Marty Sohl © 2018 the Metropolitan Opera.

Verdi's "Egyptian business" complete with a huge chorus and...Kristin Lewis? The soprano takes over the first run of dates of this revival. This is your last chance to experience the worn but  treasured Sonja Frisell production, which is due for replacement in a new production by Michael Mayer. He's the Broadway director who set Rigoletto in a Vegas casino. We here at Superconductor wonder if his new staging will be set at the Sands, the Sahara or the Desert Inn?

The Verdi Project: Aida

Love, warfare, intrigue and oh yes, the pyramids.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

A performance of Aida in front of the Great Pyramid of Giza, March 2018.

Throughout his career, Giuseppe Verdi was determined to follow in the footsteps of other Italian composers (most notably Rossini and Donizetti) and conquer the Parisian stage. However, his attempts at grand opera: Jerusalemme, Les vepres Sicilienes and Don Carlos were met with indifference. It was with Aida, set to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni that Verdi would incorporate the lessons of grand opera in a work that combines private anguish and public spectacle and still packs opera houses today.

Opera Review: The Princess Diaries

The singers trump the sets (for once) in the Met's latest Aida.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Aida (Liudmila Monastyrska, l.) emotes as Amneris (Olga Boridina) glowers in the Met's
latest revival of Verdi's Aida. Photo by Marty Sohl © 2012 The Metropolitan Opera.

Since 1988, Sonja Frisell's over-the-top Metropolitan Opera production of Verdi's Aida has been a house favorite. Tourists and opera lovers flock to see the sandstone walls, white-and-gold costumes and spectacular depictions of Ancient Egypt, inspired by the Temple of Dendur at that other Met across town. But thanks to some questionable casting decisions in recent years, the show's big set pieces tend to supersede what is essentially an intimate drama against a huge backdrop.

All that changed Monday night with this current revival, boasting the talents of Liudmila Monastyrska in the title role. This run marks the Ukrainian soprano's house debut as the Ethiopian princess. For once, listeners could look forward to "Ritorno vincitar." The Act I monologue/aria was sung as intended, with a smooth legato and limpid tone that floated above the stilled orchestra.

Things got better from this encouraging start. Ms. Monastyrska won the audience in her Act II confrontation with Amneris even as her character sunk into self-pity. She sliced cleanly through the big ensembles in the Triumph Scene, underlining Aida's plight. Best of all was Act III, where she dominated the banks of the Nile. "O patria mia" presented with the climactic high notes sung, not shrilled.