Review: Hong Kong Opera’s Aida – superb singing from stellar cast and chorus in sophisticated production

Singing against a backdrop of stills from making of Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments, a comment on the artificiality of opera, Kristin Lewis was impassioned in title role and Najmiddin Mavlyanov’s Rameses Pavarotti-like

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Soprano Kristin Lewis (left) as Aida, tenor Najimiddin Mavlyanov (centre) as Radames, and Sun Li (baritone) as Amonasro in a scene from Act 3 of Opera Hong Kong’s production of Verdi’s Aida. Photo; Opera Hong Kong

Published: 1:30pm, 16 Oct 2017Updated: 1:30pm, 16 Oct 2017

Aida is one of Verdi’s best-loved and grandest operas and this new production is far stronger than Opera Hong Kong’s last one in 2007, sophisticated in its conception and boasting an outstanding international cast.

Originally produced to open the Khedive of Egypt’s opera house in 1871, Aida combines epic spectacle set in ancient Egypt with a profound, timeless theme – the conflict between love and duty. These two sides to the opera can be hard to reconcile, and this new co-production with Shanghai Opera House pulls it off through a highly original idea: the opera is presented as the making of an epic film in the 1950s.

Chinese soprano He Hui talks about singing Aida for Placido Domingo and loving the role she’ll perform in Hong Kong this month

The scene is set by a giant image projected on the curtain showing Yul Brynner and Anne Baxter in Pharaonic costume chatting to director Cecil B. DeMille during the filming of The Ten Commandments. The performance takes place with director, cameraman and crew in the background or watching the rushes; between takes, as it were, the singers chat to each other or have their make-up and wardrobe touched up.

(From left to right): Nino Surguladze (Amneris), Freddie Tong (King of Egypt); Kristin Lewis (Aida), Sun Li (Amonasro), Paul Gay (Ramfis) and Najimiddin Mavlyanov ( Radames) in a scene from Act 2 of Verdi’s Aida. Photo: Opera Hong Kong

The concept could easily become intrusive but director Jean-Louis Grinda does a skilful job of ensuring that this clever commentary on the artificiality of opera as art form does not interfere with the authentic emotional power it generates. The designs are as sophisticated as the direction. Nicola Antonia Schimid’s stunning revolving set moves smoothly between temple, palace and tomb; Françoise Raybaud’s stylish costumes evoke ancient Egypt and 1950s Hollywood with equal effectiveness.

In the end, of course, Aida is all about the singers, and Opera Hong Kong pulled out the stops with several stellar castings.