Aida is Aida

Unprecedented: Zeffirelli’s masterpiece at the Aurora in Gozo for this October’s Aida

It’s the opera known by those who don’t know opera at all. But it’s also the opera that has it all for whoever opera occupies the most tender part of his soul. With a larger-than-life story in an exotic world, it asks for a chorus that can blow the roof out. Yet it is potentially one of the most intimate operas ever written. Set in Ancient Egypt, with the best elements for lavish costumes and sets, Aida runs on some of the greatest music ever written. With love triangles, triumphal marches and choruses, Aida

rekindles memories and evokes the brazen spirit of what “opera in Gozo” really means.

Gozo’s Aurora was meant to present another Aida in 2020 when Covid-19 struck. And the Verdi all-time favourite had to wait for at least another two years. But the people at the Aurora are making sure this wait was all worth the while as they drop the bomb with this latest announcement.

This autumn’s Aida, on 15 October will flaunt scenery by none other than the world famous opera legend Franco Zeffirelli with splendid costumes by his lifelong colleague Anna Anni. Stage direction will once again be entrusted in the hands of Vivien Hewitt who helped make this unique project possible and who’s set to adapt the original 2001 Zeffirelli staging for Gozo’s Teatru tal-Opra Aurora.

Best remembered for his Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew and Jesus of Nazareth

films, Zeffirelli is often associated with colossal operatic stagings like Turandot, Carmen, La Traviata and Aida currently packing the Verona Arena. Likewise, Aida

is usually perceived as an opera of and for the masses, with oversized choruses and triumphant processions. But, with this particular production, Zeffirelli goes to show how intimate an opera Aida is, even when throngs of people are singing the most rousing of patriotic choruses.

Hewitt, who first met Zeffirelli in 1989, particularly loves this fabulous 2001 production conceived for the prestigious Verdi Festival at the Teatro Verdi in Busseto and she is looking to create a faithfully Verdian interpretation of this 150-year-old opera masterpiece. She promises to extol the intimate nature of the masterpiece while managing one of the largest opera casts. Her stage direction will nevertheless concentrate on the emotional relationships and heart-rending psychological struggles of the main characters.

A Zeffirelli-designed production in Gozo was a question of strategy but also a matter of good planning, timing and optimal use of resources. With opera-productions at the Aurora taking place on an annual basis, every production forms part of a longer-term strategy. Over time, Aurora has moved from a concoction of assembled foreign elements, to opera-from-the-Aurora, proudly brandishing the made-in-Gozo opera label. This time round, in a post-pandemic world of opera, it was the Aurora’s deliberate choice of putting itself on the international map of high calibre productions by restaging this magnificent edition of Aida in Gozo.

This Zeffirelli Aida production, not to be confused with the Arena di Verona one, was created to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Verdi’s death, specifically for the intimate theatre in the composer’s home town of Busseto. Yet, contrary to so many perceptions, the smaller dimensions of stage actually amplify the illusion of the immensity of Ancient Egypt and the aura of the exotic mystique the opera needs to create. Likewise, Anni’s lush and lavish costumes, which switch from soft pastels to vivid reds that tend to darken as the opera reaches its tragic climax are a feast for the eye and actively participate in telling the tale in a more pungent and impactful manner.

With the staple Colin Attard at the helm of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, the Aurora has yet to announce the names of the artists taking on the main roles. But so far, they have shown they’re keen on securing one thing in an undisputable fashion – if there’s an opera spectacle that can’t be missed this year, it’s definitely going to be Aida at the Aurora.

Aida at the Teatru tal-Opra Aurora is being supported by Arts Council Malta in collaboration with the Ministry for Gozo.