‘Aida’ is back with sets by Mestres Cabanes
Enjoy Verdi’s ante-penultimate opera at the Liceu with the hyperrealist sets used in 1945.
Today, opera is constantly striving to innovate in terms of staging, with ever more grandiose and spectacular sets to make each performance even more impressive. This January, however, the Liceu is once again putting on the third-last opera written by Giuseppe Verdi, Aida, with the hyperrealist sets of Manresa-born designer Josep Mestres Cabanes. These sets were made in 1945, under the influence of the great Catalan school of set design: opulent yet intimate, true to the historicist tradition without becoming kitsch. The piece is intensely dramatic, an opera about a love triangle between Aida, Amneris and Radamès that takes passion, love and hatred to the extreme. It is set in ancient Egypt and was written to celebrate the inauguration of the Suez Canal. This was a great excuse to stage the action with great scenes and magnificent arias over nearly four hours.
Aida will be on from 13 January to 2 February at different times and days, at Gran Teatre del Liceu. The sets aren’t the only novelty in this performance of the opera, it will also be the Liceu debut of US soprano Angela Meade, accompanied by a top-notch cast featuring Jennifer Rowley, Clémentine Margaine, Judit Kutasi and Mariano Buccino, among others.
Tickets cost between €15 and €319, depending on the seat. You can get yours on the Gran Teatre del Liceu website.