Opera Aida opened on Monday at the Cairo Opera House's Main Hall and will run for four nights, closing on Friday.

The performance is directed by the late Abdel-Moneim Kamel, with Abdalla Saad as the executive director. It features guest international singers alongside soloists from the Cairo Opera Company, including soprano Eman Mostafa, bass Reda El Wakeel, and bass baritone Abdel Wahab El Sayed.

Aida is being conducted by David Crescenzi with the Cairo Opera Choir and Cairo Opera Ballet Company also participating.

Opera Aida is being composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni and is based on a story written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, commissioned by the Khedive Ismail Pasha.

Aida has special thematic and historic significance in Egyptian culture and is one of the most popular operatic works performed in Egypt.

It was first performed at the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo on 24 December 1871.

Opera Aida at the Cairo Opera House (Photo: Al-Ahram)

Opera Aida at the Cairo Opera House (Photo: Al-Ahram)

Opera Aida at the Cairo Opera House (Photo: Al-Ahram)

In 1994, Aida started taking place in front of the Deir Al-Bahari Temple (Hatchepsut Temple) in Luxor until the terrorist attacks on tourists at the location in 1997 – just one month after the opera was held there – halted further performances in the Upper Egyptian city.

The opera was then moved to Cairo and initially performed behind the Pyramids, and in the 2000s it was shifted between the Pyramids and the new Cairo Opera House.

It was then performed at the Pyramids in a mega production in 1987.

Opera Aida at the Cairo Opera House (Photo: Al-Ahram)

Opera Aida at the Cairo Opera House (Photo: Al-Ahram)

Opera Aida at the Cairo Opera House (Photo: Al-Ahram)

Opera Aida at the Cairo Opera House (Photo: Al-Ahram)

Programme:
28, 29, 30 March and 1 April at 8pm
Cairo Opera House main hall, Zamalek, Cairo

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