Verdi: Aida

For his 2006 Zurich Opera production of Aida, Nicolas Joël transposes the action of Verdi's Egyptian opera to the period of the opera’s première, at the time of the opening of the Suez Canal. Ezio Frigerio’s sumptuous sets provide a spectacle drenched in the colours of the time of Napoleon III. And the director's handsome vision is matched by a superb cast, led by Nina Stemme's "deeply considered, expressive and superbly sung Aida" ((Gramophone) and the late Salvatore Licitra as Radamès. In the pit, meanwhile, Adám Fischer's conducting reveals the true greatness and majesty of Verdi's score, putting the seal on an unmissable production.