Press Release

OPERA

Aida Opera in four acts

Music Giuseppe Verdi

Libretto Antonio Ghislanzoni

Based on a scenario by Auguste Mariette

HERODES ATTICUS ODEON

July 23, 24, 28 2010 (3 performances)

The performances begin at 21.00

IN COLLABORATION WITH THE CITY OF ATHENS

The Greek National Opera presents its second production (after Norma) this summer at the Herodes Atticus Odeon: Aida, one of Giuseppe Verdi’s most popular operas, in a production based on Dino Yannopoulos’s historic mise-en-scène of 1991.

The premiere will take place on Friday, 23 July 2010.

The cast comprises internationally acclaimed foreign and Greek performers.

A 2010 GNO PRODUCTION

Conductor Lukas Karytinos

Stage Adaptation Panaghis Pagoulatos

Set and Costume Adaptation Tota Pritsa

Choreography Adaptation Irina Akrioti-Kolioubakina

Lighting Nikos Ergazakis

Band Conductor George Aravidis

Orchestra, Chorus and Ballet at the Greek National Opera

Chorus Master Nikos Vassiliou

1991 GNO PRODUCTION

Director Dino Yannopoulos

Sets Yannis Karydis

Costumes Lisa Zaimi

Choreography Yannis Metsis

CAST

Aida Tiziana Caruso (23 & 28/7), Hui He (24/7)

Amneris Elena Cassian (23 & 28/7), Chariklia Mavropoulou (24/7)

Radames Stuart Neill (23 & 24/7), Badri Maisuradze (28/7)

Amonasro Yannis Yannissis (23/7), Dimitris Platanias (24 & 28/7)

Ramfis Dimitris Kavrakos (23 & 28/7), Christophoros Stamboglis (24/7)

The King of Egypt Dimitris Kassioumis (23 & 28/7), Tassos Apostolou (24/7)

Messenger Dimitris Sigalos (23 & 28/7), Nikos Stefanou (24/7)

Priestess Artemis Bogri (23 & 28/7), Ines Zikou (24/7)

The opera Aida is a landmark not just in the history of Italian opera, but in the history of international music as well. Widely known for the wonderful grand march of victory in Act II, it focuses equally on the emotions of the protagonists: the brave Radames and the two passionate women who seek his favours, Aida and Amneris.

The libretto for the four-act opera was penned by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario by Frenchman Auguste Mariette. The story is set in Egypt, specifically in Memphis and Thebes, during the reign of the mighty pharaohs. Aida, daughter of the king of Ethiopia, is the slave of Amneris, daughter of the king of Egypt. Both women are in love with Radames, the commander of the Egyptian army, who returns victoriously from his campaign against Ethiopia. Bowing to pressure from her father, Aida lures Radames into divulging a strategic secret. Infuriated by his betrayal, Amneris accuses him of treason. She later tries to save him, but to no avail. Radames is convicted by the council of priests to be buried alive in an underground crypt. Knowing the fate of Radames, Aida has snuck into the crypt in order to die in the arms of her beloved.

Giuseppe Verdi, the most popular composer of the Italian Romantic period, was born in Le Roncole in northern Italy in 1813 and died in Milan in 1901. He studied music in the provincial town of Busseto and later in Milan. His early works were influenced by the revolutionary spirit that prevailed across Italy, and they echoed the struggle for independence of Italian city states from Austrian rule and their unification into one sovereign country. Verdi’s political activism soon elevated him to the status of a national symbol and in 1861 he was elected a member of the first Italian Chamber of Deputies.

His most famous operas are: Nabucco (1842), Rigoletto (1851), Il trovatore (1853), La traviata (1853), La forza del destino (1862), Aida (1871), Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1893).

Aida premiered at the Cairo Opera on December 24, 1871, and was conducted by the composer and double bass virtuoso Giovanni Bottesini. On February 8, 1872, the Teatro alla Scala in Milan staged the opera’s European premiere. The Greek National Opera presented its first production of Aida in 1958 for the inauguration of the present-day Olympia Theatre.

Tickets go on sale: Thursday, July 1, 2010

At the box office of the OLYMPIA THEATRE, 59-61 Academias, Athens

Daily 9.00–21.00 / tel 210 3662 100, 210 3612 461, 210 3643 725

www.nationalopera.gr

AND from the ATHENS FESTIVAL box office, Pesmazoglou Arcade, 39 Panepistimiou, Athens

Monday to Friday 8.30–16.00 / Saturday 9.00-14.30

www.greekfestival.gr

Ticket prices

Lower tiers €100, €85, €65, €55, €45

Upper tiers €30 / Children, students €15