Aida

Graeme Murphy’s production of Aida was first performed by West Australian Opera, in Perth in 2008, and later Opera Australia in Sydney in 2009. Former Australian ballet performer, Shane Placentino, with help from Janet Vernon (Sydney Dance Theatre) and opera performer Christopher Dawes have remounted Murphy’s original for Opera Queensland. It’s a striking production with sumptuous costumes by Roger Kirk. The set, a simple upstage pyramid shape, is based on a concept by Murphy. It’s frequently alive with projected images, a little too often at times, with a downstage water trough the entire width of the stage, and behind it two moving platforms. As with any Murphy work, the production continually moves, with some stylized ballet sequences interspersed throughout the opera. It made for some fine tableaus but at times shifted focus from the principals. But nobody shifted focus from Julian Gavin as Radames. His thrilling and powerful voice dominated the production. Zara Barrett was impressive as Aida, but Milijana Nikolic as Amneris found it difficult to rise above the orchestra in the first-act. However nobody could quibble with her act-two work. Good work was also done by Alexey Tikhomirov as Ramfis and Ian Vayne as Amonasro. The entire cast, chorus and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra under Peter Robinson all rose to the occasion in realizing Verdi’s masterpiece. Aida’s first production was in Cairo in 1871. With its love triangle set against the backdrop of Egypt’s pyramids in the time of the Pharoahs, it has always been an opera that put the grand into grand opera. Usually performed with elephants and a cast of hundreds, Murphy’s production is scaled back to more manageable numbers (minus the elephants), but it is still visually impressive. It deserves full houses. The season is dedicated to the memory of Joan Sutherland.

Peter Pinne