It’s no coincidence that the 17th of November was decided for performing Giuseppe Verdi's Aida: this day exactly marks the 150th anniversary of the Suez Canal inauguration. The most important event for the Egyptian economy is inextricably linked with the history of the creating of Aida - one of the most frequently performed works by Verdi.

In 1868, the Egyptian government turned to the popular opera composer with a request to create an opera that could be the first performance at the opening of a new theatre in Cairo. The opening of the opera house of the European level (designed for 1000 seats) was planned to coincide with the inauguration of the Suez Canal. According to the plan of the Eastern ruler Isma'il Pasha, both of these ambitious projects were to turn Cairo into “little Paris”. They specially ordered the opera of any plot based on the country’s history.

But Verdi, at that time, was going through a dramatic period of his life: his father and his best friend Antonio Barezzi, as well as his most favourite composer Gioacchino Rossini passed away during a year, one after another. Mournful Verdi turned the Egyptians’ offer down; the Suez Canal and the theatre in Cairo were opened in November 1869 without any new performance. Nevertheless, the composer set to work later; and the première of Aida took place on December 24, 1871.

Aida was among the first productions of the Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre: its first performance took place on May 6, 1979. Now the production of Andrejs Žagars (2014) is performed in our theatre. The performance won the Krasnoyarsk Regional Festival Theatre Spring 2015 in the nominated categories Best Actress in an Opera Performance (Svetlana Ratslaf-Levchuk and Daria Ryabinko as Aida and Amneris) and Best Supporting Actor in an Opera Performance (Vladimir Komovich as the King of Egypt).

On November 17, 2019, it is precisely Honoured Artist of Russia Svetlana Ratslaf-Levchuk and Daria Ryabinko who will take the stage. The role of Radamès will be performed by Honoured Artist of Buryatia, a soloist of the Mariinsky Theatre Mergen Sandanov.