Aida

Violeta Urmana sings "O patria mia" from Verdi's Aida
Daniele Gatti conductor. Vienna State Opera. November, 2005

Well this is the singer and the same conductor but the screen you are watching it on is way smaller than the one I viewed it on today. For today, I watched Verdi"Aida on the big screen at the movie theater. The Metropolitan Opera performance was spectacular.
Violeta Urmana played the role of Aida and Dolora Zajick was her rival. Both women have awesome voices and played their parts to perfection. Johan Botha plays Radamès and he does have a marvelous voice.

The story is simple. Aida, the enslaved Ethiopian princess, with Amneris, the daughter of the Egyptian King, as her rival. She loves Radamès, commander of the Egyptian army who loves Aida and one thing leads to another and with jealousy and betrayal it has a tragic end. But that doesn't matter because we have just been treated to a rich, satisfying wonderful theater experience and I got popcorn to boot.

My favorite part of the Opera is the Grand March
Short Version

Long Version


Oh yes, One other thing. The scenery and the costumes are worth the price of admission ($20. for seniors) And Renée Fleming as the hostess and backstage guide/interviewer is another "plus" - I wonder if she is on Facebook?

If you want to see it you can go to the Encore presentation on November 11. (I am not sure that all theaters carry the Encore presentations.) And it might appear on the wonderful PBS station sometime. The next Met Opera Production is

Turandot – Giacomo Puccini

November 7, 2009
US Encore: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 (6:30 PM local time)
Expected Running time: 3 hours 21 minutes, 2 intermissions