With almost 1,200 performances to date, Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida is one of the Metropolitan Opera’s most frequently-performed works, second only to Puccini’s La Bohème. Last night, a new Aida came to the Met stage, helmed by Tony-winning director Michael Mayer, and the reviews are in!
Soprano Angel Blue stars as the captive Ethiopian princess Aida, with mezzo-soprano Judit Kutasi as Amneris, the Egyptian princess who is Aida’s rival for the love of the soldier Radamès. As Radamès, tenor Piotr Beczała stars in his fourth consecutive Met Opera New Year’s production, and fifth total. Conflicts of love and duty ensue when Egypt launches a campaign against Aida’s homeland, and her father Amonasro (baritone Quinn Kelsey) is captured. Basses Dmitry Belosselskiy and Morris Robinson round out the principal cast as the high priest Ramfis and the King of Egypt respectively, and Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts.
Read the reviews here.
Financial Times (George Grella)
New York Classical Review (David Wright)
The New York Times (Zachary Woolfe)*
The Wall Street Journal (Heidi Waleson)*
The Washington Post (Michael Andor Brodeur)*
*This review may require creating a free account or a paid subscription.
Playbill will continue to update this list as reviews come in.
Aida marks Michael Mayer’s fifth production at the Met, the 10th production of Aida in the company’s history, and the first new staging since Sonja Frisell’s production premiered in 1988. The new production, which had originally been planned for the 2020-21 season before being delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, features scenic design by Christine Jones, costume design by Susan Hilferty, lighting design by Kevin Adams, choreography by Oleg Glushkov, and projection design by 59 Productions.
Performances of Aida continue through January 25. The production will return to the Met stage in the spring, with a new cast including soprano Christina Nilsson and tenor Brian Jagde.
For more information, visit MetOpera.org.
