Aida by Verdi, Fra (2022/2023), Instrueret af Ingolf Huhn,, Dirigent Diego Martin-Etxebarria, Dominik Beykirch, Claudio Novati, Opernhaus Chemnitz, Chemnitz, Germany

Paris 1870. After the disastrous defeat at Sedan, the French capital prepares to repel the advancing Prussian-German troops. However, instead of the expected storming of the metropolis, there is a siege. Four difficult months marked by hunger, cold and destruction begin. Auguste Mariette Bey, one of the most important Egyptologists of his time, is also in the city. As the actual inventor of the Aida storyline, he made a decisive contribution a few months earlier to Verdi's decision to compose what is today his best-known opera. Now neither he nor the stage decorations and costumes for the Aida premiere in Cairo can leave Paris. The world premiere has to be postponed. The Chemnitz new production takes up this historical context. In Mariette's apartment, an opera troupe shortly before leaving, strangers seeking refuge and the actual residents of the house meet. Somewhere between preparations for Cairo, escape into fantastic operatic worlds and questioning their own situation, they play Aida , a play about a secret love in the midst of war: The up-and-coming Egyptian captain Radamès hopes to conquer the Ethiopians as a general. With the victory, he finally wants to create an opportunity for himself and Aida to live their love openly. But when he actually gets the command, this throws Aida into a dilemma, because her father is Amonasro, the king of the Ethiopians. She stands between two enemy men, both of whom she loves. When the Egyptian troops return home triumphantly, the situation deteriorates further: Aida recognizes her father among the prisoners of war, and Radamès receives the hand of the pharaoh’s daughter Amneris as a reward for the victory … Hostility, power-political interests and jealousy leave no room for a connection between Aida and Radamès, and yet the two hold on to their love. Their common path leads them to death together. In its end, the deepest tragedy and the highest bliss become one. Verdi inspired this to immortal, touching music.