The grandest of grand operas, Aïda returns to Manitoba Opera for the first time in over a decade.

Impassioned arias, surging choruses, and exhilarating orchestral music shows us Verdi at the peak of his powers – masterfully balancing pomp and pageantry with a deeply moving personal tragedy.

The Synopsis

Amneris, daughter of the King of Egypt, loves Radames, the captain of the Egyptian guard. But he loves Amneris’ Ethiopian slave, Aida, who loves him back. What he doesn’t know is that Aida’s father is Amonasro, the King of Ethiopia and his country’s greatest enemy.

Amonasro convinces Aida to pry a crucial battle secret from Radames, under the guise of information they need for safe elopement. His fellow Egyptians overhear his treachery and sentence him to be buried alive. Once inside the vault, he finds his beloved, Aida, who chooses to die with him rather than live without him.

Music by Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni
Place: Memphis and Thebes in ancient Egypt
Time: The dynasty of the Pharaohs

Sung in Italian with projected English translations.

Running time is approximately 3 hours.