Aida

The Egyptian commander Radames has everything that anyone could wish for: success in battle against the Ethiopians and the love of a beautiful woman – the Ethiopian slave girl Aida is joined with him in secret passion, although it plunges her into a deep conflict between the demands of her heart and her obligations to her home country. The Pharaoh's daughter Amneris is also in love with the attractive army leader and tries everything to win Radames for herself. All three find themselves caught up in a fatal whirlpool of political calculation, jealousy and intrigue, even before the secret of Aida's true origin is revealed!

Giuseppe Verdi was initially unenthusiastic about the commission from the Egyptian Viceroy Ismael Pascha to write an opera solely on Egyptian lines for the newly constructed opera house in Cairo. Ultimately, however, faced with the prospect of complete compositional freedom plus an impressive fee of 150,000 gold franks, he was reconciled to the task and created an opera which masterfully combines splendid crowd scenes in the style of French grand opéra with touching scenes of a love tragedy that is both dramatic and intimate. The first performance on 24 December 1871 in Cairo was a triumphant success, and "Aida" has remained a hit ever since. In his directing début at the Gärtnerplatztheater, Torsten Fischer presented the ever up-to-date portrait of a great love which, in a totalitarian regime, can only be fulfilled through death.