Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Classical music institutions often see themselves as museums, preserving musical history in amber and bringing it to life briefly for audiences before returning it to storage. That\u2019s a near literal description of revivals of pre-20th-century operas, and it nails Sonja Frisell\u2019s stiff, shallow 1988 production of Aida at the Metropolitan Opera.On New Year\u2019s Eve, the Met replaced that staging with a new production from Michael Mayer, one that blows away the stuffiness and has an ingenious take on how to treat an opera that time has pushed to a distance from our contemporary experiences. He makes the tragic love triangle between Ethiopian princess and Egyptian slave Aida, Egyptian soldier Radam\u00e8s, and Pharaoh\u2019s daughter Amneris into a tableau vivant that both embraces and subverts how we see this opera. Mayer shines a light on\u00a0Aida\u00a0while also framing it with how colonialism brought the cultural heritage of such stories to the west.During the opening Prelude, an early-20th-century archaeologist descends into a tomb. He discovers the relics of Aida\u2019s story, which then comes to life. Costumes are a mix of ancient and art deco styles, there is elegant and witty choreography from Oleg Glushkov \u2014 in his house debut \u2014 and Mayer brilliantly replaces the chariots and processions of slaves during the Triumphal March with a parade of archaeologists looting the tomb. This Aida is ever present in the past.The cast is stellar, with soprano Angel Blue in the title role, tenor Piotr Becza\u0142a as Radam\u00e8s, mezzo-soprano Judit Kutasi as Amneris, and in secondary roles the commanding bass Morris Robinson as the King and the great Verdian baritone Quinn Kelsey as Aida\u2019s father, Amonasro. Music director Yannick N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin conducts this opening run.The singing on opening night was characterful, with the exception of Becza\u0142a, who, as general director Peter Gelb explained during the intermission, was recovering from a bad cold. His lower register was generally strong, but his voice grew ragged as it rose, and his pitch was flat and sluggish in \u201cCeleste Aida\u201d. He gained energy as things went along, and by the end did project the character, even if he couldn\u2019t fully sing him.Blue and Kutasi were a superb pair of antagonists. Along with a beautiful sound, Blue is an expressive Verdi singer with an understated manner. She doesn\u2019t chew the scenery, she shapes phrases to their emotional point. This brought out all the conflicted meanings in \u201cRitorna vincitor!\u201d and also evoked believable affection and peace while facing death in the final duet with Radam\u00e8s, \u201cInvan! Tutto \u00e8 finito.\u201dThe dimensions and colour of Kutasi\u2019s sound were luscious. She had the vehemence for Amneris\u2019s anger and thirst for revenge, and also the range to deliver warmth in \u201cQuale insolita gioia\u201d. Her palpable pain in the final moments of the production brought a gasp from the audience.\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605To May 9, metopera.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Classical music institutions often see themselves as museums, preserving musical history in amber and bringing it to life briefly for audiences before returning it to storage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":152598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-152597","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152597"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":152599,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152597\/revisions\/152599"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}