Aida

3 hours 

Sung in Italian with Swedish surtitles

A society somewhere in the world, in a near, undefined future. An array of people populates a world laden with war, decay and despair. One of them is young Aida who is caught in the crossfire between two competing parties and is ultimately captured. She falls in love with Radamès. But she is not the only one who wants him. Will the impossible, relentless love conquer in this cruel reality?

Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida is a complex and heartfelt love story seething with conflict on several levels. It takes place against a backdrop of war, fanaticism, slavery and martyrdom – epic in scope, but never without emotional intimacy. The opera premiered in 1871 in Cairo, and quickly became one of the most beloved creations in the opera repertoire. Verdi himself said of Aida that it is »more intense, more dramatic« than any of his other works. Following the critically-acclaimed success of Nixon in China, director Michael Cavanagh is back with another charged production revolving around drama. The plot of Aida is usually set in Pharaonic Egypt, but this production focuses on contemporary pressures and the inner turmoil that consumes the heroic yet vulnerable characters. The story of Aida engages with a contemporary societal landscape marred by war, political crises and internecine divisions between different groups.