Cairo Opera Troupe, Cairo Opera Ballet Troupe to perform famed Opera Aida in Italy on July 16

CAIRO – 12 July 2021: Egypt’s Minister of Culture Inas Abdel-Dayem agreed that the artistic delegation of the Egyptian Opera House  travels to Italy to perform at the closing ceremony of the season of the Egyptian Academy of Arts in Rome, where the Cairo Opera Troupe and the Cairo Opera Ballet Troupe will perform the famed international Opera Aida for  Giuseppe Verdi.

The performance will be held on July 16, and an exhibition of the most important designs of clothing and accessories for the famous show will be held on the sidelines.

Abdel Dayem said that creativity in its various forms plays an active role in building bridges of communication between nations, stating that the Academy of Arts in Rome is one of the diplomatic arms of the Egyptian soft powers that  contributes to supporting and strengthening the dialogue of cultures between the two countries.

She added that the performance of Opera Aida comes to celebrate the 150th anniversary of its first presentation in Egypt in 1871.

Opera Aida is a musical drama with a lyrical dialogue. It is a theatrical piece that includes scenes and dancing tabloids interspersed with music and divided into four chapters that embody the struggle between duty and passion. It tells the love story that arose between the Ethiopian prisoner Aida and Radames, the commander of the Egyptian army. 

Furthermore, Opera Aida's manuscripts were discovered by the French archaeologist Auguste Marietta in the Nile Valley. A manuscript is a 4-page story. Liberto was written by Gisella Nazzoni, and after getting translated and documented, it was composed by the Italian musician Verdi. 

It was written at the request of Khedive Ismail. Verdi composed the music for the opera for 150,000 francs of gold. The decor and costumes for the opera were designed in Paris at a cost of 250,000 francs. 
 

Opera Aida was performed for the first time in 1871 at the old stage of the Khedive Opera House; however, Verdi was not able to attend. It was presented in Europe for the first time at the La Scala Theater in Italy in February of 1872.