DUSHANBE, August 31, 2009, Asia-Plus — For the first time after more than twenty-five years, Aida by Giuseppe Verdi sounded at the Tajik Opera and Ballet Theatre in Dushanbe again on August 29.
The opera involving opera singers from the Tajik Opera and Ballet Theatre and the Kazakh Opera and Ballet Theatre was conducted by Gerardo Kallela from the La Scala (Milan, Italy).
We will recall that Mr. Gerardo Kallela ha worked with the Tajik Opera and Ballet heater since January 2009. He was invited to work with the theatre for three years. In addition to conducting the opera orchestra, Kallela is also conducting master classes for graduates from Tajik Institute of Arts and National Conservatory.
For the last time, Aida was performed at the Tajik Opera and Ballet Theatre in 1982.
Aida (an Arabic female name meaning “visitor” or “returning”) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Chislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette (some scholars argue that the scenario was written by Ternistocle Solera). Aida was first performed at the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo on December 24, 1871 conducted by Giovanni Bottesini.
Ismail Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, commissioned Verdi to write the opera for performance in January 1871, paying him 150,000 francs, but the premiere was delayed because of the Franco-Prussian War. Contrary to popular belief, the opera was not written to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, nor that of the Khedivial Opera House (which opened with Verdi”s Rigoletto) in the same year. (Verdi had been asked to compose an ode for the opening of the Canal, but declined on the grounds that he did not write “occasional pieces”.)
