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Art Alert: Verdi's Aida to open opera season in Cairo Conducted by David Crescenzi, Aida will open Egypt's opera season 2014/15 on 30 September. The opera will be staged daily until 3 October
Opera Aida is among the best-known works by Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. In Egypt, Aida is performed frequently, and in recent years it has opened several opera seasons. As such, once again, Aida will open the 2014/15 season with performances daily, between 30 September and 3 October. Aida will feature soloists from the Cairo Opera Company alongside guest singers: Serbian Soprano Dragana Radakovic, as well as two tenors from Italy: Vincenzo Sarinelli and Paolo Lardizzone. The evenings will be conducted by David Crescenzi, the newly appointed principal conductor of the Cairo Opera Orchestra, and will also include the participation of the Cairo Opera Choir. Opera Aida is composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni and based on a story written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, commissioned by the Khedive Ismail Pasha. It was first performed at the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo on 24 December 1871. The opera was performed at the Pyramids in a mega production in 1987. In 1994, Aida started taking place in front of the Deir Al-Bahari Temple (Hatchepsut Temple) in Luxor until the terrorist attacks on tourists at the location in 1997 – just one month after one of the performances of the opera was held there – halted further performances in Luxor. The opera was moved to Cairo and it was performed behind the Pyramids, and in the 2000s it was shifted between the Pyramids and the new Cairo Opera House. The current performance of Aida is directed by the late Abdel-Moneim Kamel, with Abdalla Saad as executive director. Programme: 30 September, 1, 2 and 3 October, 8pm Main Hall, Cairo Opera House, Zamalek, Cairo http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/111553.aspx
