Raymond Gubbay and the Royal Albert Hall present AIDA

20 October 2011

Raymond Gubbay and the Royal Albert Hall present AIDA

• Casting announced for new production of Verdi’s operatic masterpiece at the Royal Albert Hall in February 2012

• Chiara Taigi, Claire Rutter, Catrin Aur share title role, alongside Marc Heller, Joseph Wolverton and Jonathan Stoughton

• Staged in-the-round in spectacular Ancient Egyptian setting

• From the producers of the hugely successful Madam Butterfly, which sold its 300,000th ticket this year

Hot on the heels of the huge success of the fifth revival of their smash-hit success production of Madam Butterfly in a water-filled Royal Albert Hall, Raymond Gubbay and the Royal Albert Hall today announced the cast for a brand new production of Verdi’s AIDA, with an exciting new creative team, in the Royal Albert Hall in February 2012.

This epic work explores the devastating consequences of a classic love triangle between Aida, the Ethiopian slave girl, the King’s daughter, Amneris, and Captain of the Guard, Radames. Culminating with the final entombment as the opera draws to its tragic close, this intense drama gave Verdi the perfect opportunity to compose some of his most poignant arias and powerful music.

Italian soprano Chiara Taigi will play the lead role of the slave girl Aida. Taigi has played lead roles for some of the world’s leading conductors including Riccardo Muti (Otello) and Claudio Abbado (Simon Boccanegra), and has performed at La Scala and the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome. She also appeared at the Cortona Festival under Antonio Pappano.

Sharing the role of Aida with Chiara Taigi will be English singer Claire Rutter, who has recently sung Norma and Tosca for Grange Park Opera, and the Welsh soprano Catrin Aur.

Marc Heller will play Radames opposite Chiara Taigi. Heller has appeared at major opera houses across the United States and Europe, including the Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and many others in such rôles as Rodolfo, Pinkerton, Cavaradossi, Duca di Mantova, Alfredo, Riccardo, Don José and others. He originated the pivotal role of Gao Jian-li in the Shanghai workshop of Tan Dun’s opera The First Emperor.

Sharing the role of Radames with Marc Heller will be the American tenor Joseph Wolverton andJonathan Stoughton.

AIDA received its world premiere in 1871, the same year that the Royal Albert Hall was opened by Queen Victoria.

An international cast will be directed by Stephen Medcalf with designs by Isabella Bywater.Andrew Greenwood will conduct the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, with lighting design byAndrew Bridge and sound design by Bobby Aitken. The opera will be sung in Italian, with surtitles in English.

Producer Raymond Gubbay and the Royal Albert Hall’s co-production of Madam Butterfly in 2011 sold seventy thousand tickets, with 50% of those tickets booked by people who had not been to operas at the Royal Albert Hall before. The total number of tickets sold for this show since its premiere in 1998 has now risen more than three hundred thousand.

Aida will run from Thursday 23 February to Sunday 11 March 2012. Tickets from £21.50.

Press night will be held on Thursday 23 February at 7.30pm.