Aida Transmission Transcript
READ: Giddens Show Intro
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Hello. I’m Rhiannon Giddens and I’m delighted to be your host for today’s performance of Verdi’s Aida. Aida may be the grandest opera in the repertoire, demanding vast musical and theatrical resources to do justice to Verdi’s dazzling fantasy of ancient Egypt. But at its core, Aida is an intimate drama focused on a woman caught between forbidden love and her duty to her homeland.
Today, soprano Angel Blue stars in the title role of the conflicted Ethiopian princess, a captive of the conquering Egyptians. Tenor Piotr Beczala is the proud Egyptian warrior Radamès, Aida’s love and her country’s sworn enemy.
Mezzo soprano Judit Kutasi completes the love triangle as the pharaoh’s determined daughter Amneris, who wants Radamès for herself. And baritone Quinn Kelsey is Aida’s father Amonasro, the undercover king of Ethiopia.
For this new production of Aida, the Met’s first in more than 35 years, director Michael Mayer provides an intriguing framework, a team of early 20th century archaeologists explores a tomb that’s been sealed for millennia and uncovers the story of Aida, which bursts to vibrant life right before our eyes.
Met music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin is ready to go to the pit to lead Verdi’s sweeping score. Here is Aida.
INTERVIEW: Giddens w/ Piotr Beczala
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Piotr, bravo.
PIOTR BECZALA: Thank you very much.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: What a thrilling end to that act. How does it feel to be in the midst of these enormous ensembles?
PIOTR BECZALA: This is really enormous. No, it’s a lot of soloists – a huge chorus, you know, the orchestra is the full orchestra. So, it’s really a huge sound. So, you have to do your job, you know, singing your lines, uh, as great as possible. But it’s really fantastic to be in the middle of this beautiful sound of Verdi.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Yeah, surrounded by majesty.
PIOTR BECZALA: Yes.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Incredible. But as soon as you land on stage, you have the most infamous cold open of any tenor. You have to deliver the most beautiful aria, “Celeste Aida.” How do you prepare to just land and deliver like that?
PIOTR BECZALA: Well, I was two hours before the performance already here to warm up and to be prepared. Uh, it’s really tough, uh, because it’s no, uh, situation before that you can build this – the, the, the story. So, you have to just deliver as beautiful and as great as possible.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Well, you’re very good at doing that.
PIOTR BECZALA: And enjoying it. That’s very important.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Yes. Well, the thing about Radamès is like, it’s considered one of the greatest heroic tenor roles. Do you think it’s just because of the challenge in singing or the characterization, or do you think it’s a little bit of both?
PIOTR BECZALA: Well, uh, there is also a couple of, uh, other, uh, wonderful tenor roles, but to be honest, yes, Radamès is very special. Because the story, uh, developed – growed a lot through the, through the piece. And, you know, he’s a naïve tenor, uh, so in the story – he really believed that he can save, uh, the love of Aida and himself, uh, somehow. So, um, now in the, in the – between this beautiful ensemble, the scene and the next scene is, uh, a lot of, uh, um, brain work to try to, uh, find the solution for this, uh, problem.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Yeah. Well, it’s incredible to believe that you’ve been singing lead roles at the Met for 18 years, 16 different roles starting with your debut –
PIOTR BECZALA: I never counted. Really? That’s good.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Well, that’s my job. (Laughs) You started with your rule as the Duke in Rigoletto in 2006, and up through Don Jose in Carmen last season.
PIOTR BECZALA: Yeah.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Does it feel like you just had your entire operatic life flash before your eyes?
PIOTR BECZALA: To be honest, yes. I’m coming to my whole repertory, you know, it includes Lensky and also some unknown pieces like Fedora, and Adriana Lecouvreur, and Lohengrin. It’s really a lot of fun because it’s a fantastic house. And, uh, you know, it’s a message for all younger – young singers: Don’t be – don’t be scared for this huge hall. Acoustic is fantastic. So, it’s not the hall where you have to save your voice or your repertory for, uh, I don’t know, singing this at the last two or three years of your career. No, it’s really a fantastic place and you can enjoy every moment on the sage.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Well, you set such a wonderful example. Congratulations on your amazing Met career and for your performance today.
PIOTR BECZALA: Thank you. The role starts now actually.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Oh, okay. Well, I’d better let you go. (Laughs)
PIOTR BECZALA: The third and fourth act, yes.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Well, thank you so much.
PIOTR BECZALA: Thank you very much. (Polish)
READ: Throw to tape
RHIANNON GIDDENS: For today’s new production, director Michael Mayer turned to the origins of Aida for inspiration, focusing on the celebrated Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, who first presented Verdi with the idea of an opera set in ancient Egypt. We recently spoke to Michael and his talented creative team about how Mariette and his work informed the dazzling setting and action that we’re witnessing today.
ROLL-IN B: Creating the World of Aida
MICHAEL MAYER: The original idea for Aida, the opera, was actually dreamt up by an Egyptologist in the 19th century named Auguste Mariette. He discovered an important tomb in Egypt and he had an idea that, perhaps he could come up with a story that might tickle Verdi as a potential opera that would celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal.
CHRISTINE JONES: This particular archaeologist was not only the person that gave Verdi the idea of this opera, but had also designed the sets and the costumes for one of the very first productions. And that was really, uh, a taking off point for – for the work that we began to do.
MICHAEL MAYER: I thought, what if we see an early 20th-century archaeologist and his team open a heretofore-unexplored tomb that’s been sealed up for 5,000 years? These walls of this tomb and the hieroglyphics tell a story.
SUSAN HILFERTY: I started to find, in different libraries in France and in Italy, some of the original sketches that Mariette did for the costumes. And so using his sketches, because he was the Egyptologist, he was the expert on Egyptian clothing at that time, was my inspiration for how to get into the clothing of this world of Aida.
MARK GRIMMER: Michael’s vision for the piece always involved these kind of two parallel time frames. So, the story of Aida as told by Verdi, but also this idea of the discovery of ancient Egypt and the – the, the story of archaeology and discovery. And I think part of our brief from the beginning was to help work out how we could differentiate those two time periods. It was important, when we were in Egyptian time, that we were telling the story kind of in a contemporary way so that, you know, these characters are alive and they’re inhabiting the world, which is, you know, we know as kind of ancient Egypt, but obviously to them it was just the world in which they existed.
MICHAEL MAYER: Those tombs were full of color, and ceramics, and enamel, and gold, and jewels. I really wanted to find a way to have both my cake and eat it, too. So that when the archaeologists are looking around, it feels like it’s ancient, but when the population of the story come to life, that it has all of that vitality, and color, and richness, and texture.
ADAMS: It’s a really interesting challenge to bring these two different worlds to the stage. Mostly for me it’s done through palette. The archaeologists are usually bathed in blue light or blues and greens. And the – the world of the Egyptians is more sort of a realistic light for the time of day that those scenes are set in.
CHRISTINE JONES: One of the things I was really drawn to were some of the tombs that featured this really unique blue color that is known as “Egyptian blue.” For many years in Egypt, all of their colors were pulled from materials that could be made from the earth. So, you had ochres, and earth colors, and reds that could come from clay and things like that. But in 2600 BC, this beautiful blue becomes prevalent throughout Egypt and Mesopotamia. And I was seduced by that color and felt like it was a way of conveying the mystery and the magic of what the archaeologists are experiencing. The set is bathed in this color, and it’s meant to be evocative of the richness of many of the paintings that are in the tombs.
SUSAN HILFERTY: As soon as I heard from Christine that we – that she and we were all talking about the idea of the hieroglyphics, or the wall paintings, coming to life, I was immediately able to bring it into my development of the clothes. So, I started to work with the same patterns that she was looking at and I developed this fabric design that made each of the surfaces of the community of the Egyptians, that gave it a real life, gave it depth. The jewelry pieces carry some of the designs. All inspired by the real Egyptian patterns, and it connected to the physical world that Christine was creating.
MARK GRIMMER: We were able to use projection and animation to create, um, the kind of decorative finishes on the – on the tombs and the temples as they would have been at the time, as best we can guess from the research that we were able to do. So, put simply, we were able to paint the set as if it had just been decorated, if you like. We played with extruding, um, elements of the scenery to make it look like the stone is moving – through projection techniques, through some kind of trompe l’oeil lighting techniques – so that the set can appear in lots of really, really different ways. You kind of can make it transform and change. So, yeah, there was a bit of time travel, there’s a bit of kind of painting with light, um, and there’s a bit of kind of magical transformation.
MICHAEL MAYER: It’s very easy for Aida to feel like a museum piece. And so it was crucial for me that we use as many techniques that we have now today that we didn't have 30 years ago, so that it feels fresh and alive but still has the opulence and the grandeur that people expect from Aida.
READ: Giddens Neubauer / Johnson / Throw to break
RHIANNON GIDDENS: It’s good to know the creative process behind the opulence and grandeur of this impressive new production. The Met’s Live in HD series is made possible thanks to its founding sponsor, the Neubauer Family Foundation. Digital support is provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies. The Met Live in HD series is supported by Rolex.
Today’s performance of Aida is also being heard over the Robert K. Johnson Foundation Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network. We’ll be back after a break.
READ: Throw to tape
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Welcome back. In the next act we’ll hear Angel Blue sing one of the most moving and famous arias in all of opera, “O patria mia” in which Aida longs for her homeland. Angel and conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin recently shared their insights into this heartrending musical highlight.
ROLL-IN C: Exploring “O patria mia”
ANGEL BLUE: The beginning of Act III is – it’s just her looking around, waiting for Radamès to appear. She actually starts with something that’s very grim. And she says, “Radamès is on his way, he’s coming. What is he going to say? If he says something that I can’t handle, I’m going to throw myself into the dark vortex of the Nile.”
YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN: It’s a searching music and it has tremolo in the second violins.
ANGEL BLUE: So, she starts this scene in turmoil.
YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN: She’s conflicted between love and family and country, or patria, which is different than country. It’s your people, it’s the culture, it’s also what makes one person who they are.
ANGEL BLUE: I lost my dad when I was in my early twenties and when my dad died, it was so traumatic, and it still is today. There’s no way to really get over that trauma. When you lose something, it doesn’t come back, it’s gone. So my “O patria mia,” I'm thinking very strongly about my dad.
YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN: One of the most magical moments in all of Verdi, the oboe solo. So, it starts as only one note, F, that is so beautiful. Even just that note, loneliness is immediately felt. It’s just bending the pitch in a way in a very narrow interval. And not only does it sound distant, foreign, but it also sounds like someone is searching. It’s the inner quest for oneself.
ANGEL BLUE: I grew up in a beautiful area, like Aida, when she says “O cieli azzurri,” yeah, I grew up in o cieli azzurri. It was amazing where I grew up in Los Angeles, with the beautiful blue skies and you could see the ocean one way, and then look the other way and see the rolling hills – “O verdi colli,” you know, you see all of that.
YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN: It transcends these concepts of country, language, culture, and just makes it about who and what makes us as people. And this for me is maybe the second message of “O patria mia.”
ANGEL BLUE: I think what makes the aria so special is the repetition of her saying, “O patria mia,” – “Oh my country, I’ll never see you again. No, no. I’ll never see you again. No. I’ll never see you again. I’ll never see you again.” When we have tragedy in our lives, we just sort of repeat the same thing over and over again. The reality of not being able to go home, the reality of me never seeing Sylvester Blue again, my dad, that’s hard. Everyone has something that they’ve lost. And that's what “O patria mia” is. That’s why it's written the way it is. Thank you, Verdi, that was beautiful. (Laughs) In the way he wrote it. I don't know that it could have been written any better.
READ: PSA / Fundraising / Throw to HD Season Preview
RHIANNON GIDDENS: It’s such a moving experience when an artist brings something so personal to performances. As a singer, songwriter and musician myself, I find it revealing to get into the nuances of an aria like this, not to mention hearing it sung by an artist of Angel Blue’s caliber. There are only a handful of sopranos who can conquer this role on the vast stage of the Met. Angel’s performance today is thrilling on the big screen, but as a live performance artist, I know that nothing can compare to hearing Angel or any soprano live in the opera house. So, please come to the Met or visit your local opera company.
Aida is a true epic, so it deserves a production that embraces eye-popping visual spectacle. But presenting a production like this, and with a starry cast like the one we have today, well, that comes at great expense. Ticket sales cover only a fraction of the costs. So, the Met relies on opera lovers like you to help make up the difference. So, if you’re able to make a donation, please visit metopera.org/donate. You can also text HDLIVE to 44321 to make a contribution, or call us at 212-362-0068. Thank you so much for your support.
The Met has four more movie-theatre presentations coming up this season. Here’s a preview.
READ: Throw to Lise Davidsen montage
RHIANNON GIDDENS: As we just saw, the Met’s next live cinema transmission will be Beethoven’s Fidelio starring the soaring soprano Lise Davidsen. Lise has become a welcome fixture at the Met ever since her outstanding debut in Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades. So, we thought you might enjoy a look at her Met highlight reel.
14:38:19
INTERVIEW: Giddens w/ Judit Kutaski
RHIANNON GIDDENS: What extraordinary artistry. In addition to her upcoming Fidelio in March, Lise’s future roles at the Met include the touchstone Wagner heroines, Isolde and Brunhilda. That should raise the pulse of opera-lovers everywhere.
Now, I get to speak with the artist who completes today’s love triangle, our Amneris, Judit Kutasi. Hello, Judit.
JUDIT KUTASI: Good afternoon.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: We just saw a clip of Lise Davidsen in La Forza del Destino last season. You made your Met debut in that production and now you’re back.
JUDIT KUTASI: Yes, I am very, very happy and lucky to be here.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: What is so special about singing on this stage in particular, the Met stage?
JUDIT KUTASI: Oh, my God, it’s an iconic stage. I think it’s just one of the most amazing opera houses to sing in and I really enjoy it.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: So, your character today, Amneris, has understandably called your signature role. Can you tell us why?
JUDIT KUTASI: (Laughs) Um, yeah, I have more than almost 60 shows up until now in 60, mmm, productions and it’s one of the roles that I really love to sing, and I mostly sang up until now.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Incredible. Well, you know, Verdi like, wrote some incredible roles for the mezzo soprano. What are the – your favorite things about how he writes for the mezzo voice?
JUDIT KUTASI: Um, in general, the tessitura that he writes, uh, I think it’s very comfortable for a mezzo soprano, and I really do feel myself very comfortable especially in this role, in Amneris. And I think that’s – that’s it, the tessitura.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Yeah. So, Amneris’ second act confrontation with Aida is the turning point of the opera. What was it like to work with Angel Blue on that scene?
JUDIT KUTASI: (Laughs) Oh, my goodness. She’s so amazing and I’m so happy and honored to work with her. I think she’s – and will be – and she is one of the most amazing Aidas and I’m really lucky to work with her and, um – it’s just that fire that she has inside of her. I think it’s just amazing to see like, a quality from outside.
RHIANNON GIDDENS: So, we’re going to dig into Amneris’ character in this upcoming act. How do you – how do you prepare for her emotional journey? How do you see it?
JUDIT KUTASI: Uh, she’s the only character that she is developing emotionally in this opera and, um, from the beginning until the end. In the beginning, she’s a princess and then until the end, she’s still a princess but she is hurt, uh, because of the love that she has for Radamès. And Radamès is, uh, choosing Aida. And, um, I think I can relate to it in some parts of it, and I – I think everybody can relate even nowadays, um, in some parts of it. And it’s just so amazing to be able to, um, have this journey with her. She’s one of my girls. (Laughs)
RHIANNON GIDDENS: Well, I can’t wait to see it. Toi, toi, toi for the second half. Thank you so much.
JUDIT KUTASI: Toi, toi, toi. Thank you. Thank you so much.
READ: Throw to Acts III & IV
RHIANNON GIDDENS: At the end of the previous act, the king has offered his daughter’s hand in marriage to Rada – Radamès. But as we know, Radamès loves Aida, not Amneris. As the ancient hieroglyphics reveal, this love triangle for the ages will not end happily. Here now is the tragic conclusion of Aida.