CHINA: SPECTACULAR ANNIVERSARY PRODUCTION OF VERDI'S OPERA AIDA IS STAGED IN SHANGHI STADIUM WITH HELP FROM THE CHINESE ARMY

Record ID: 390655

  • Title: CHINA: SPECTACULAR ANNIVERSARY PRODUCTION OF VERDI'S OPERA AIDA IS STAGED IN SHANGHI STADIUM WITH HELP FROM THE CHINESE ARMY
  • Date: 26th December 2000
  • Summary: SHANGHAI, CHINA (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS, EGYPTIAN SOLDIERS WIELDING HALBERDS MARCHING PAST CHEERING WOMEN (0.32)
  • Embargoed: 10th January 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SHANGHAI, CHINA
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Education,Arts,General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2YOJBNKY80V7XB2X9FSVIIAG8
  • Story Text: It's been staged worldwide and is one of the best-known operas. Giuseppe Verdi's "Aida" continues to charm audiences everywhere and its biggest ever production recently took place in Shanghai, China.
    The performance premiered with stars from Italy and a giant cast of more than 3,000 including elephants and tigers.
    Complete with laser show and fireworks display, the opera played to a sold-out crowd of 45,000 fans.
    This may look like the towering pyramids of Giza guarding the mighty pharoahs of Egypt slumbering in eternal sleep.
    But it is a re-staging of a fantastic story, thousands of years and miles removed from its original environment, in a country with a history equally as long and arduous as Egypt's.
    This is Shanghai, People's Republic of China, and the city played host to the first Asian and biggest ever production of the hit opera "Aida" by Giuseppe Verdi.
    First performed in the newly built theatre in Cairo in 1871 to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal, the opera has been staged in cities across the world including Athens, Sydney, Munich, Zurich, Verona and Montreal.
    Organised as a memorial for the 100th anniversary of the composer's death, the production cost more then 12 million yuan ($1.4 million) and took up more than 5,000 square metres of space.
    It is Shanghai's attempt at putting itself squarely on the world's cultural map.
    "Aida" spins a complex tale of love and intrigue in ancient Memphis and Thebes under the reign of the Egyptian Pharoah. Amneris, an Egyptian princess, falls in love with Radames, a brave soldier.
    But Radames secretly loves Aida, Amneris' slave whose father Amonastro is the king of Ethiopia.
    Ironically, Radames is commissioned to conquer Ethiopia, the motherland of his secret lover and her father.
    The whole nation cheers as he returns with his mighty army from the triumphant military campaign, except Aida, who knows that her lover has defeated her father and her nation.
    Aida is torn between her love for Radames and her father, and in the end chooses death and an eternal life with her lover.
    The mega-production opera was a huge hit with the 48,000 Chinese spectators.
    "I like it very much! There are so many performers and animals! I think the music is very beautiful!" exclaimed Tu Siqi (pronounced tu sichi) who had flown all the way from Hong Kong with her father to catch a glimpse of the performance.
    "I'm most impressed by the colour and richness of the Western opera singers' voices. They really bring the melody to life and I enjoy it very much," explained Cao Ling (pronounced tsao ling) who has never experienced a Western-style opera but is an avid fan of traditional Chinese music.
    With elephants, camels, and tigers, along with more than 3,000 performers, the production took more than 3 months of planning and preparation to get off the ground.
    The cast included more than 500 chorus members, 160 orchestra musicians from the Shanghai Symphony, 60 ballet dancers, 1,000 walk-on actors, nearly 300 acrobats and circus members, as well as over 300 sound technicians, make-up artist, costume designers and construction workers.
    The Shanghai municipal government threw its weight behind the production and bore a large portion of the costs. It helped arrange for airplance tickets, lodging, stadium use and provided advertisement at steep discounts on the Eastern delta region's Oriental Television.
    The People's Liberation Army also helped out by donating more than 2,000 soldiers to act as their Egyptian counterparts. One major concern was that the inexperienced audience, more familiar with Hong Kong pop music or Chinese folk songs, would not understand the complex story line and alien art form. The organisers decided to make the production into "a spectacular" which could stimulate all the senses, and would not rely solely on the music or acting.
    The massive illuminated pyramid measuring 30 metres tall and stretching 60 metres at the base, towered over the stage.
    It was designed not only to act as a backdrop to the performance, but as an intergral part of the sensory experience by enhancing mood through special lighting and smoke devices, changing its looks to replicate a mountain, Sphinx or the flowing waters of Nile.
    The spectacular fireworks display at the end of the second act as Radamus returns from his successful campaign, and the grand encore finale topped off the excitement.
    Kresimir Dolencic is the director for the Shanghai production of the opera Aida. Born in Zabreb, Croatia, he is critically acclaimed for directing numerous operas and international threatrical performances.
    "Not many Chinese people know about "Aida" and then not many about opera. So maybe for most of them, it will be the first time to watch this show. So for one thing, is the big spectacular, big stage, big things, special effects and all that, and the other thing is, I want to give them a romantic melodrama; good acting, very strong emotion, something that they'll understand, because this is the universal language,"
    explained Dolencic.
    Besides the international opera stars, performing troupes and children from all over Shanghai joined the production.
    "This performance is very very big, and I'm happy to be a part of it," said Gan Shiyi, a 9 year old girl from the children's ballet threatre.
    Lead by the world-famous conductor, Alfredo Silipignis, internationally renowned opera stars sang the major roles in the production.
    Italian tenor Lando Bartolini who performed in Giacomo Puccini's Turandot in the Forbidden City in Beijing two years ago, sang the role of Radames, the star-crossed lover of Aida.
    US mezzo-soprano Eugenie Grunewald had the role of Egypt's Princess Amneris, whose simmering jealously leads to the tragic deaths of Aida and Radames.
    Russian soprano Olga Romanko played the role of Aida, the enslaved Ethiopian princess who is in love with Radames. Asked whether she worried about how the production will be received in China, she explained that opera was a universal language for mankind.
    "This story of Aida, can be (understood) everywhere, in Italy, in China, it's all the same," replied Romanko.
    And that's true. Shanghai people who could afford $12 to $180 for tickets took warmly to "Aida".
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