Metropolitan Opera – Verdi’s Aida. April 6, 2017.

Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center.  Orchestra (Seat U31, $25).

Story.  The main characters are the Egyptian Princess Amneris, the Ethiopian Princess Aida who is Amneris’s slave, and the Egyptian warrior Radames.  Amneris loves Radames, who is in turn in love with Aida.  Radames is chosen to lead the Egyptian army to fight with the invading Ethiopians, led by Aida’s father, King Amonarsro.  Radames is victorious and captures many Ethiopians, including Amonarsro.  The Egyptian king’s order to execute the prisoners is stayed, but relents after hearing the plea of Radames; only Aida and Amonarsro are kept in Egypt as other prisoners are freed.  After considerable pressure from Amonarsro, Aida gets Radames to reveal the route the Egyptians will take so the Ethiopians can defeat them.  This conversation is overheard by Amneris; Aida and Amonarsro escape, but Radames is captured.  Amneris offers to save Radames if he rejects Aida, which Radames refuses.  Radames is condemned to be buried alive by the priests.  As the tomb is sealed, he finds Aida already inside.

Conductor – Daniele Rustioni.  Ramfis, the high priest – James Morris; Radames – Jorge de Leon; Amneris – Violeta Urmana; Aida – Krassimira Stoyanova; Amonasro – George Gagnidze.

I am quite sure we have seen this opera before, but probably quite a while ago as there is no blog entry for it.  Also, we saw the Broadway version of this; that was also a while ago, again there was no blog entry.

The story is quite straightforward.  The opera itself is known for both its music and its grandeur, especially the triumphal march at the end of Act II.

The singers sang well, and all had strong voices.  I do have a few misgivings about several of them.  One uniform complaint is they only had one volume setting: loud (mostly, anyway.)  Which is a pity as I am sure their beautiful voices would all come through in the moments that called for tenderness.  I appreciate the singing, but miss the emotion and drama.  When de Leon first launched into “Celeste Aida,” his pitch seemed a bit off at the end of each of the held notes.  That problem seemed to go away as the performance progressed.  Stoyanova has a great voice that soared while she needed it to, but again she didn’t have a “soft” setting – her plea to the heavens for help sounded more like cursing at fate.  Also, her acting skills were limited to lifting her head to look at the ceiling.  While not as strong as the others, Urmana’s singing was solid, and she conveyed well her despair at unrequited love.  I didn’t get the complex characterization of Amneris as described in the Program Notes, though: she never flew into the rage that was implied in the write-up.  Gagnidze and Morris put in credible performances as Amonasro and the high priest, respectively.  Gagnidze was particularly fierce as the Ethiopian king.

The orchestra under the exuberant direction of Rustioni did a great job.  The music sounded magnificent when it needed to be, and never overwhelmed the singing.  The chorus had a major role, from quiet chants to full-throated numbers, and did well throughout.  Per the Program Notes, Verdi made up many of the “period music” for this opera, and it sounded very credible.

Tonight’s set was first used in 1988, and I have vague memories of seeing it.  (Frankly, I have it mixed up with the set used in the Broadway show.)  After all these years it still looked fresh, and clever.  Quick scene changes are accomplished by lifting different props off or onto the stage.  Many people rave about the Act II triumphal march.  The music is grand; and the procession – bookended by horses and chariots – must be the most elaborate in my experience.  For someone who comes the opera for the music, it is a bit of overkill.  Incidentally, I ran into a young woman (we have known her since she was a young girl) who has attended a few operas at the Met.  She remarked to us she was amazed at how much Met spends on the sets, given the poor financial condition the organization is supposed to be in.  So, the “grand” doesn’t appeal very much to this millennial either.  There was also this ballet scene that was a bit too long, and I always wonder if the dancing during an opera is as good as one I see at the ABT (on the same stage, actually).  Also, I was a bit worried that the handlers couldn’t keep the horses harnessed to the chariot from bolting, they looked very unhappy.

The curtain was raised after the end of Act II.  Unfortunately I couldn't get my iPhone to take a picture until the curtain was about to close again.

The reason I have so many misgivings is Aida is one of the operas I thought are perfect, despite my having seen it only once before.  That applies to every aspect of it: music, story, acting, and staging.  By all objective measures this was a great performance, but somehow fell short of this imaginary standard in my mind.

Buying these rush tickets was a last-minute decision.  There were quite a few empty seats, but our attempt to move was thwarted by the usher who claimed there would be late-seating: turned out not be true.  Our seats were quite good, in any case.

The New YorkTimes review was of a performance at the beginning of the season, in November, 2016.  The cast was completely different: for this season the Met will have 14 performances of Aida this season (7 each in 2016 and 2017).