RBO Aida January 2025 @Marc Brenner
On January 31, 2025, the Royal Ballet & Opera unveiled Robert Carsen's modern take on Verdi's Aida, trading pyramids and sphinxes for a totalitarian regime that felt more Orwellian than Egyptian. The set, a monochromatic expanse of grey, seemed to have borrowed its palette from a particularly dreary London fog, leaving some attendees yearning for a splash of Nile blue.
Anna Pirozzi's portrayal of Aida was vocally impressive, though at times her performance felt as restrained as the set design. Jorge de León stepped in as Radames, delivering a performance that was more decibel than nuance, perhaps mistaking volume for valour. Raehann Bryce-Davis, making her Royal Opera debut as Amneris, brought a refreshing vitality to the stage, her performance a rare bloom in an otherwise arid desert.
The orchestra, under Daniel Oren's baton, navigated Verdi's score with the precision of a well-drilled military parade, though occasionally the emotional crescendos felt more like strategic manoeuvres than heartfelt expressions.
In this Aida the grand triumphal march was replaced by militaristic displays that felt more like a state-sponsored parade than a celebration of victory. While the production aimed to shed new light on Verdi's masterpiece, it occasionally left the audience in the shadows, pondering whether the modernization illuminated the opera's themes or simply obscured them behind a veil of contemporary commentary.
In summary, this rendition of Aida marched to the beat of its own drum - bold in concept but occasionally missing the melodic heart that makes Verdi's work timeless.
David Buchler
