An introduction to Verdi's most spectacular opera with our director, Stephen Anthony Brown
25th January 2024
Stephen Brown has both performed with and directed for Kentish Opera for many years. Cutting his KO teeth as Lensky in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, he has subsequently directed our The Tales of Hoffmann in 2022 which won a NODA award for 'Best Opera in the South East', and encouraged the company to get our teeth into Gilbert & Sullivan's funny and moving The Yeomen of the Guard in 2023. Here he talks about our forthcoming production of Aida in April 2024.
'I have been in various productions of Aida - most memorably one where I had to rush up to Dundee at the drop of a hat to sing the part of Radames, and another which was a touring production where one performance took place on a boarded-over ice rink. We were barefoot and had to pretend to be squinting at a blazing desert sun while we were actually extremely cold, so that was an interesting performance challenge!
I have always preferred traditional productions - I have seen one that was set in an office but I wasn't convinced by it. There are too many holes in the story or aspects which don't make sense. Maybe a contemporary military setting would work but it does have to be in a 'military mode' - there are just too many characters who are royalty or military leaders to avoid it.
My favourite part of the show is the last act. It is incredibly beautiful music, but also intensely evocative of the terrible fate of the protagonists - the screeching violins are like the last of the air leaving the tomb... The judgement scene is also pretty good - the fact that you can't see the actual sentencing but you have Amneris in despair on stage is very powerful.
It's an interesting show as it was actually originally commissioned by the Egyptians to open their new opera house which was celebrating the opening of the Suez canal, but in the end the premiere was delayed by the Franco-Prussian war as the costumes and set couldn't leave Paris in time. In the end, the first performance was on Christmas Eve 1871 in Cairo, nearly two months after the planned premiere.
Some trivia about the show is that the Triumphal March is written for fanfare trumpets which Verdi had purpose-made for the opera. He was definitely aware of what Wagner was doing - creating or amending instruments to enhance his music - and opted to have the trumpets made in the keys of A flat and B (as opposed to B flat, E flat or C). The originals were repeatedly used for later performances as they were unique - they have a strange 'other' sound about them, as if they are from a different time.
Aida is Verdi's third-to-last opera - I have to confess to not being a big Verdi fan until Aida. But his last three, Otello, Aida and Falstaff, are all fantastic. To return to the Wagner point - we know that Verdi had Tristan and Isolde on his shelves when he was writing his later works and although the influence isn't hugely obvious, it is definitely there. The experience is different, the harmonic language has changed by that stage in his composing. Having said that, Verdi is also clearly making use of Arabic modes and scales in Aida too, although we can't know what Ancient Egyptian music sounded like!
The story is a classic love triangle - Amneris, the princess, has beauty and power and is the Pharaoh's daughter, but Radames, the hero warrior, who she loves, is in love with Aida, who is the daughter of a rival king and a low-status hostage in Egypt. In this story, the love triangle is elevated so we see how it affects affairs of state. Amneris loves Radames until the bitter end and offers to save him but his love for Aida causes him to reject his country and her offer of a reprieve.
Aida is thought of as a huge opera but, although there are a couple of very large scenes, most of it is very intimate. It is very emotionally intense, and, musically, there aren't many parts of it that aren't just beautiful. It is radiant, and holds up a mirror to what people will do for love.
In terms of how we're going to be staging it - I don't want to give too much away but I will say that we will be bringing in some circular ideas into the story to enforce the poignancy of the tragedy. Come and see it!'
