Aida

"When love and duty contradict each other, the heart becomes both altar and abyss" The Liceu opens the season with an exceptional cast led by Anna Netrebko and Anna Pirozzi in the role of Aida, alongside Yusif Eyvazov and Piotr Beczała as Radamès. A luxury opening to bring to life one of Verdi's most monumental operas, presented in an impactful production by Iranian artist Shirin Neshat, which turns Aida into "a visual ritual in which beauty and conflict constantly dialogue." This proposal, originating from the Salzburg Festival, avoids the usual grandiosity and places the Verdi drama in a universe of great symbolic force. Neshat, with her poetic and committed gaze, transforms Aida into a narrative that dialogues with contemporary tensions: identity, exile, oppression, and the fragility of power. The opera thus becomes a mirror of the present, where aesthetics combine with a subtle but sharp political reading. Often interpreted as a love story in an idealized Egypt, Aida reveals a deeper conflict: the collision between the sacred and established power. Aida, an enslaved Ethiopian princess, and Radamès, an Egyptian hero, secretly love each other and challenge a system that condemns love as dissent. Their story, condemned from the outset, highlights a rigid structure in which law and religion are confused to justify repression. Neshat's stage reading accentuates this tension with a visual beauty that does not renounce critique. In the final tomb, Aida and Radamès find a last space of freedom: death becomes redemption, an emotional and spiritual gesture of liberation that transcends the violence surrounding them. With musical direction by Antonello Manacorda, and Ekaterina Semenchuk and Ksenia Dudnikova as Amneris, as well as Artur Ruciński and Igor Golovatenko in the role of Amonasro, this Aida opens the Liceu season as a great total spectacle: emotion, reflection, and a visual force that invites the spectator to experience the opera as a ritual and contemporary experience. Libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni World premiere: 24 December 1871 at the Cairo Opera House Barcelona premiere: 16 April 1876 at the Teatre Principal Liceu premiere: 25 February 1877 Last performance at the Liceu: 2 February 2020 Total performances at the Liceu: 468 9 October: Breathe Opera – Mindfulness session 11 October: Live audiodescription service 25 October: Digital premiere on the Liceu OPERA+ platform Download the artistic programme of the Liceu Orchestra and Choir Aida Wednesday 23 September at 19:30h Opera + DJ + Food Stands Are you between 18 and 35 years old? Join the LiceUnder 35 Community 'Aida' by Verdi | The Liceu preview How does war change Aida's identity? 'Aida' by Verdi | The Choir of the Liceu Why is 'Aida' one of the great