Yesterday I had one of the great cultural experiences of a lifetime, visually stunning, musical perfection and I still have the tingles from the rich power of the Metropolitan Opera House New York production of Aida, relayed to the Tyneside Film Theatre in HD. Then today I bought a subscription to the Library of previous productions, some 200, and watched the original production of Aida in 1989 with Dolora Zajick playing the same role spread over two decades and to complete the excitement discovered that the Odeon Gateshead Metro Centre has over a dozen relays at various operas, ballets and plays including Carmen from Le Scala Milan an La Traviata from Madrid.
This was my first time back into the Royal Circle of the Tyneside Film Theatre which has become a contemporary auditorium of half a dozen rows of armchairs and two person settees with space between pairs of seats for wine glasses and snacks if you book the back row there is a table ledge running across the front of the seating. The is a small bar area for the occasions with chilled wines, crisps nuts chocolates and such like.
I had intended to read up on the Opera and get to know something of the cast for the performance to be experienced but other priorities prevented. I have seen one live performance of Aida in a showy production at Earl’s Court where the seat was at the back of the auditorium so I moved them to almost behind the front stage but which provided a view of the singers and chorus as they moved about the stage as well as the scene changes during the intervals
I had one record, an EP of the Rome Opera Chorus from Aida Triumphant march bought from the only record shop in Wallington and which cost a fortune, nearly as much as a Long Play record and which I cannot now find. I have also seen a performance or two on television but I always viewed the opera as a spectacle which great interaction between powerful singers and a large chorus. It has taken 70 years to appreciate that this is a masterpiece and which with the right singers can reaches the greatest heights of the art.
It is an opera about love and passion and the consequences when the love cuts across national and political divides.
The Opera is set in ancient Egypt as information reaches the court that the Ethiopians have invaded the country and Radames, a favoured soldier, is entrusted with the responsibility of leading to army to drive out the enemy. The complication is that he in is love with Aida the Ethiopian slave assistant of the Princess Amneris, the Kings daughter and heir, while the Princess is in love with him. The Princess urges her father to appoint Radames to defend the nation although she has suspicions that her slave is also in love with her hero.
In the 1989 Met Opera Production the Princess is played by Dolora Zajick, American by birth and who came to international attention as a top level performer with this role when in her late thirties and her voice with is power and range had fully developed. At the age of 57 and with the frame to match the first reaction is to be concerned at a portrayal of what is written in the libretto as a young Princes, especially if one did not know that she has sung the role to acclaim throughout the operatic world in over a score of productions and some 250 performances and that it remains as strong and yet beautiful with a remarkable range. Her solo performances are breathtaking and rightly received the greatest applause in both performances experiences and applause which broke out in the cinema which is something I have not previously experienced since my childhood.
For the most recent production the part of Radames is played by Johan Botha, a South African leading tenor who has the build to match AIDA and Amneris and at 54 is regarded as one of the great tenors of the present generation. However he cannot be compared with the 1989 production where the part was played by Placido Domingo now in his late sixties and the most well known and loved tenor in the world since the death of Pavarotti. He has sung 128 roles, more than other tenor, and opened the Metropolitan season 21 times, four more than Caruso. He was 50 when he performed with Krajick. Aprile Millo played Aida when she was only 39 and proved she had a voice to match that of Domingo and Krajick and all three had suburb dramatic presence which is often lacking in the productions which tour provincial theatres. The 2009 performance of Aida was played by Violeta Urmane, a Lithuanian -Urmanaviciute, aged 48.
Because of the same generation frames the three singers connected in terms of passion and anguish because oft he triangle of affections and conflict over nationality. What both sets of lead singers are able to accomplish is to make their performances so convincing that it should make young people re think their attitudes to the older generation and their relationships.
In the same way that Madam Butterfly which I experienced last season opened my eyes as well as ears to what lead live opera performances are about this had widened and depended my appreciation in a profound way. There are several videos on You Tube which communicates the reality which all words must fail.
Back to story and with Radames off to lead the army consecrated by the High Priest Ramfis at the Isis Temple Aida is torn between anxiety for him and for father the Ethiopian King, a fact which is unknown to the Egyptians.
The second act is in two parts before then as with Madam Butterfly there were interviews with the lead singers as they came from the stage and there was opportunity to watch the scene being dismantled and re assembled. The back stage is vast .I have been back stage of companies putting on Operas ballets and West Musicals but this is incredible in width, depth, below stage and with height which is mouth opening. There set involved major construction and a minor army of dedicated construction workers rather than stage hands.
In the first part of the second Act the Princess, having grown more suspicious of Aida tests by saying that Radames has been killed and as a consequence Aida reveals her position, but hides her distress at learning that her people have been defeated..
There is then the Triumphant March scene fames all over world because of its spectacle and which includes a dance performed by the Ballet company and choreographed by the former head of the Bolshoi for the present production. The climax is when the prisoners are brought in and Aida sees her father, the king in shackles. The Egyptian king offers Radames anything he asks and he, pleads for the freedom for the slaves who are allowed to return home with the exception of Aida and her father who has said the King had died. The Egyptian King then throws the proverbial spanner in the works by giving Aida to Radames in marriage, a gift which cannot be refused and which is to the pleasure of Amneris
The final act is in major contrast to the second an act of great emotion between the trio, Amneris’s father and the High Priest. Amneris goes to Temple to pray until dawn and thus is in a position to overhear when Radames and Aida meet and plan to run away together. Aida father has also met up with his daughter and asks her to try and find out the battle plans as his countryman have risen up and invaded once more to free their King and his daughter and gain revenge for the defeat and plundering of their country. As soon as Radames reveals the route plan, Aida‘s father reveals himself and he and his daughter beg Radames to flee with them. He however is horrified at having unwittingly given away the battle route information and when confronted by Amneris who are summoned the High Priest, he surrenders to their judgement. Their decision is for him to be entombed in the vaults below the temple and here is finds that Aida having learnt of teh verdict has hidden away and shut away with him so they can face death together. Meanwhile above teh Princess is beyond consolation for having given Radames over to the judgement of the Priests after he refused her offer to save him if he gives up Aida for her.. While everything beforehand was outstanding it is the dramatic singing of the last act which for me has taken operatic singing go a new height. It is of coincidence that the previous event in my life of this order was to hear Verdi’s Requiem Mass at the Royal Albert Hall at the age of sixteen years in the year that I left school. There have been other magical moments from the Live Aid Concert, to the stage musical Les Miserables and Miss Saigon, to the Bruce Springsteen concerts and to hearing Louis Armstrong play in the half a century ago. But as with the voice of Krajick it is only from the accumulation of a lifetime of emotional highs and lows than one can appreciate the significance of the work and teh magnificence of the voices.
Then to be able to experience the original production using the same set and costumes and libretto added an even greater dimension to the experience. I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity and to now be able to experience more.
This was my first time back into the Royal Circle of the Tyneside Film Theatre which has become a contemporary auditorium of half a dozen rows of armchairs and two person settees with space between pairs of seats for wine glasses and snacks if you book the back row there is a table ledge running across the front of the seating. The is a small bar area for the occasions with chilled wines, crisps nuts chocolates and such like.
I had intended to read up on the Opera and get to know something of the cast for the performance to be experienced but other priorities prevented. I have seen one live performance of Aida in a showy production at Earl’s Court where the seat was at the back of the auditorium so I moved them to almost behind the front stage but which provided a view of the singers and chorus as they moved about the stage as well as the scene changes during the intervals
I had one record, an EP of the Rome Opera Chorus from Aida Triumphant march bought from the only record shop in Wallington and which cost a fortune, nearly as much as a Long Play record and which I cannot now find. I have also seen a performance or two on television but I always viewed the opera as a spectacle which great interaction between powerful singers and a large chorus. It has taken 70 years to appreciate that this is a masterpiece and which with the right singers can reaches the greatest heights of the art.
It is an opera about love and passion and the consequences when the love cuts across national and political divides.
The Opera is set in ancient Egypt as information reaches the court that the Ethiopians have invaded the country and Radames, a favoured soldier, is entrusted with the responsibility of leading to army to drive out the enemy. The complication is that he in is love with Aida the Ethiopian slave assistant of the Princess Amneris, the Kings daughter and heir, while the Princess is in love with him. The Princess urges her father to appoint Radames to defend the nation although she has suspicions that her slave is also in love with her hero.
In the 1989 Met Opera Production the Princess is played by Dolora Zajick, American by birth and who came to international attention as a top level performer with this role when in her late thirties and her voice with is power and range had fully developed. At the age of 57 and with the frame to match the first reaction is to be concerned at a portrayal of what is written in the libretto as a young Princes, especially if one did not know that she has sung the role to acclaim throughout the operatic world in over a score of productions and some 250 performances and that it remains as strong and yet beautiful with a remarkable range. Her solo performances are breathtaking and rightly received the greatest applause in both performances experiences and applause which broke out in the cinema which is something I have not previously experienced since my childhood.
For the most recent production the part of Radames is played by Johan Botha, a South African leading tenor who has the build to match AIDA and Amneris and at 54 is regarded as one of the great tenors of the present generation. However he cannot be compared with the 1989 production where the part was played by Placido Domingo now in his late sixties and the most well known and loved tenor in the world since the death of Pavarotti. He has sung 128 roles, more than other tenor, and opened the Metropolitan season 21 times, four more than Caruso. He was 50 when he performed with Krajick. Aprile Millo played Aida when she was only 39 and proved she had a voice to match that of Domingo and Krajick and all three had suburb dramatic presence which is often lacking in the productions which tour provincial theatres. The 2009 performance of Aida was played by Violeta Urmane, a Lithuanian -Urmanaviciute, aged 48.
Because of the same generation frames the three singers connected in terms of passion and anguish because oft he triangle of affections and conflict over nationality. What both sets of lead singers are able to accomplish is to make their performances so convincing that it should make young people re think their attitudes to the older generation and their relationships.
In the same way that Madam Butterfly which I experienced last season opened my eyes as well as ears to what lead live opera performances are about this had widened and depended my appreciation in a profound way. There are several videos on You Tube which communicates the reality which all words must fail.
Back to story and with Radames off to lead the army consecrated by the High Priest Ramfis at the Isis Temple Aida is torn between anxiety for him and for father the Ethiopian King, a fact which is unknown to the Egyptians.
The second act is in two parts before then as with Madam Butterfly there were interviews with the lead singers as they came from the stage and there was opportunity to watch the scene being dismantled and re assembled. The back stage is vast .I have been back stage of companies putting on Operas ballets and West Musicals but this is incredible in width, depth, below stage and with height which is mouth opening. There set involved major construction and a minor army of dedicated construction workers rather than stage hands.
In the first part of the second Act the Princess, having grown more suspicious of Aida tests by saying that Radames has been killed and as a consequence Aida reveals her position, but hides her distress at learning that her people have been defeated..
There is then the Triumphant March scene fames all over world because of its spectacle and which includes a dance performed by the Ballet company and choreographed by the former head of the Bolshoi for the present production. The climax is when the prisoners are brought in and Aida sees her father, the king in shackles. The Egyptian king offers Radames anything he asks and he, pleads for the freedom for the slaves who are allowed to return home with the exception of Aida and her father who has said the King had died. The Egyptian King then throws the proverbial spanner in the works by giving Aida to Radames in marriage, a gift which cannot be refused and which is to the pleasure of Amneris
The final act is in major contrast to the second an act of great emotion between the trio, Amneris’s father and the High Priest. Amneris goes to Temple to pray until dawn and thus is in a position to overhear when Radames and Aida meet and plan to run away together. Aida father has also met up with his daughter and asks her to try and find out the battle plans as his countryman have risen up and invaded once more to free their King and his daughter and gain revenge for the defeat and plundering of their country. As soon as Radames reveals the route plan, Aida‘s father reveals himself and he and his daughter beg Radames to flee with them. He however is horrified at having unwittingly given away the battle route information and when confronted by Amneris who are summoned the High Priest, he surrenders to their judgement. Their decision is for him to be entombed in the vaults below the temple and here is finds that Aida having learnt of teh verdict has hidden away and shut away with him so they can face death together. Meanwhile above teh Princess is beyond consolation for having given Radames over to the judgement of the Priests after he refused her offer to save him if he gives up Aida for her.. While everything beforehand was outstanding it is the dramatic singing of the last act which for me has taken operatic singing go a new height. It is of coincidence that the previous event in my life of this order was to hear Verdi’s Requiem Mass at the Royal Albert Hall at the age of sixteen years in the year that I left school. There have been other magical moments from the Live Aid Concert, to the stage musical Les Miserables and Miss Saigon, to the Bruce Springsteen concerts and to hearing Louis Armstrong play in the half a century ago. But as with the voice of Krajick it is only from the accumulation of a lifetime of emotional highs and lows than one can appreciate the significance of the work and teh magnificence of the voices.
Then to be able to experience the original production using the same set and costumes and libretto added an even greater dimension to the experience. I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity and to now be able to experience more.
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