MET LIVE HD: AIDA REACHES CINEMATIC HEIGHTS
By Dwight Casimere
Metropolitan Opera photos by Marty Sohl and Ken Howard
NEW YORK—While audiences flocked to see the premiere of Peter Jackson’s prequel to The Ring trilogy, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, audiences around the globe crowded into theatres to see the Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD transmission of Verdi’s masterpiece, Aida. The opera incorporated a stellar cast of top-notch singers, a battalion of chorus members, dancers, onstage musicians and live horses to produce a spectacle that rivaled the impact of Jackson’s 3-D epic.
Directed for the Metropolitan Opera stage by Emmy
Award-winning stage director Sonja Frisell (La Scala, Lyric Opera of Chicago,
Covent Garden) for Live in HD Cinema by Emmy Award-winning television director
Gary Halvorson (Friends, Two and a Half Men, The Drew Carey Show), the sweeping
drama of Verdi’s depiction of ancient Egypt was elevated to cinematic
proportions. Halvorson and his crack camera team swept the audience into the
vortex of Verdi’s all-consuming drama with imaginative overhead, close-up and
side camera angles that brought the viewer into intimate contact with the
singers and the action, creating a powerful dramatic and visual experience. The
setting inside the Temple of Isis, in particular, seemed more likes scenes from
a movie than action onstage with detailed depictions of rituals at the altar.
Particularly telling was the scene showing the adornment of Radames as the new
commander of Egypt’s army by the High Priest, Ramfis (Stefan Kocan).
The Triumphal March, perhaps the most famous
instrumental piece in all opera, was vividly depicted by squadrons of uniformed
soldiers and phalanxes of slaves, superbly costumed by Dada Saligeri and a
cadre of dancers choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky. Onstage trumpets were led by Emmy Award-winning Principal Trumpet Billy Hunter, also Principal Trumpet
for the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra in Chicago, who appeared onstage in full
costume, taking direction from Conductor at Met Opera Music Director Fabio
Luisi and the superb orchestra in the pit.
Beyond the towering sets, which employed every lift and
truck at the Met’s disposal, including hundreds of stagehands, the bottom line
is Bel Canto, or beautiful singing. The front-line cast was exceptional.
Liudmyla Monastyrska was mesmerizing as the Aida, the enslaved Ethiopian
princess. Her luminous, supple voice wove an hypnotic spell as she forcefully
expressed her anguish. Conflicted by her devotion to her embattled country and
her devotion to her father, the Ethiopian King Amonasro, sung majestically by
George Gagnidze, and her guilt-ridden, head-over-heels love for her nation’s
conqueror, General Radames, hers was a Met debut that will mark her as one of
the reigning Aida’s in the Met’s storied history of the role. Such greats as
Leontyne Price, Kirsten Flagstad and Gloria Davy, the first African American to
sing the role at the Met, who died at the age of 81, just
days after the Met’s 2012 season premiere, similarly graced the stage in this
powerful production, the name of Liudmyla Monastyrska has rightfully earned its
place alongside them.
The Ukrainian soprano, in a backstage interview with
Live HD Host and Met star Renee Fleming, spoke in translation of the challenges
of her role and her delivery, which Fleming described as “extremely polished.”
She revealed that she relaxes during intermissions by playing traditional folk
songs from her native land on the piano. She then delivered a heartfelt greeting
to her fans who might be watching the live movie cast in theatres around the
world, although her native Kiev has yet to receive them in movie theatres.
The role of Radames was sung with stentorian clarity by
tenor Roberto Alagna. Just in from a critically acclaimed performance of
Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore at Covent Garden, Alagna spoke of the challenges
of singing the famous aria “Celeste Aida” in the first act. "You just have to relax and let the music come," he said of the demanding aira. "All the while, I was thinking of the very first tenors who sang this role and tried to honor them."
Veteran Mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina, who has sung the
role of Amneris countless times at the Met, gave a master class in dramatic
operatic singing. Her denouncement of Radames/Alagna in Act IV after he refuses
her offer of amnesty was particularly spine chilling. In close up, one could
visibly see a tear fall from her eye at the end of her emotional aria.
Olga Gorodina delivers a dramatic aria as Amneris
Aida is one of the Met’s biggest and splashiest productions and this season’s Live in HD presentation is breathtaking to behold. It will be seen in an Encore performance Wednesday, January 16, 2013 at 6:30pm. I plan to be there. Check local listings for theatre locations or visit www.metopera.org or fathomevents.com.
Winter is rather cold this year, so if you came to Kiev this year, it is better not to walk by streets, but visit cafes and cinemas. Ukraine Travel Guide provides all necessary information about places to see in Kiev, look through a directory of Kiev cinemas for example. There are also contacts of hotels, taxis, theatres and everything you need during Ukrainian tourism.
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