AIDA ON SYDNEY HARBOUR
BY OPERA AUSTRALIA [EX] CINEMA LIVE.
ONE ONLY SCREENING in cinema
Tickets Adults $20. Students/Conc $15
Tickets are now on sale for CINEMA LIVE screening of Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour: AIDA– one of Sydney’s most spectacular annual events. The fourth year of Opera on Sydney Harbour features the full Opera Australia Chorus on stage together with international singers, and a magnificent live orchestra beneath!
For 2015, Opera Australia has assembled a dream creative team with director Gale Edwards (Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour: Carmen (2013), La boheme, Salome), set and costume designer Mark Thompson (The Force of Destiny) and lighting designer Matt Scott (Rigoletto, Don Pasquale, La Sonnambula). Together they have created a magnificent production that will live long in everyone’s memories.
From its premiere in 1871 and throughout its long performance history, Verdi’s Aida is perhaps best-known for its outdoor performances. In the planning for more than a year, Opera Australia’s new production features almost 100 people on stage, 50 musicians in The Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra below the stage (affectionately referred to as “the Underworld”), and more than a few surprises in the much anticipated ‘Triumphal March’.
The spectacle of the production is intensified by the truly awe-inspiring lighting and sound, with lighting that shows Nefertiti to its most stunning effect, and a new ‘surround-sound’ system that will convince audience members that they are part of the action.
Opera Australia’s Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini said,
“This production of Aida has everything you want in an opera – fantastic music, dazzling performances from some of the world’s finest singers, an outstanding orchestra and a jaw-dropping set design. Plus, the story line will have people on the edge of their seats – drama, a love triangle, betrayal, intrigue, a trial – it has it all!
THE STORY:
A rebellion is
brewing on Egypt’s borders, and for both the oppressor and the oppressed, loves
and loyalties are about to be tested.
Egypt needs a
hero to lead their army, and the High Priest has chosen Radamès. Egypt’s
fortunes will turn on his sword, but Radamès has a higher purpose. Through
victory in battle, he hopes to win the hand of the beautiful slave girl Aida –
handmaiden to the princess Amneris, and secretly, an Ethiopian princess.
Aida is torn
between her love for the Egyptian hero and her despair for the country he must
march against – her homeland.
And the Princess
Amneris, who also desires Radamès, is beginning to have suspicions that her
hero might prefer her slave…
As Radamès
returns to Egypt in triumph, Aida is greeted with a terrible sight – her
father, the King of Ethiopia, is among the slaves.
Just when all
seems lost, the King of Egypt deals another blow: promising the triumphant
Radamès his daughter Amneris’ hand.
On the banks of
the Nile, the lovers arrange to meet one last time.
But the conquered
Ethiopian King has a plan to save his country. Aida has to make a devastating
choice.
In the darkness,
the King’s plan, Aida’s conflicted heart and Radamès’ steadfast love collide in
a devastating finale.
AIDA run time is 2 hrs 37 mins, including 15 minute interval.
