Giuseppe Verdi composed Aida to a libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. The four-act opera was first performed at the Cairo Opera House on 24 December 1871, under the baton of the double-bass virtuoso Giovanni Bottesini. As it was primarily heads of state and other politicians who attended this event, Verdi, who did not even go to Egypt, regarded the Milan performance in February 1872 as the work's true world premiere. Roberta Mantegna, the Italian soprano portraying the title character in this production by the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra (HNPO), won the Concorso Internazionale Toti dal Monte in Treviso in 2015 and the Concours International de Belcanto Vincenzo Bellini in Marseille the following year while Radames will be portrayed by the Korean tenor Alfred Kim, who won one international competition in Vienna in 1997, and another in Munich a year later. The international flavour of the production will be underscored by the Brazilian mezzo-soprano Victória Pitts as Amneris and the Romanian baritone Alexandru Agache, who will bring the part of Amonasro to life. The Hungarian singers joining them - such as András Palerdi (Ramfis), István Kovács (King), Jenő Dékán (Messenger) and Gabriella Busa (High Priestess) - will also contribute to the high standard of the evening. Anyone who has watched Italian conductor Riccardo Frizza, who has grown increasingly popular in Hungary in recent years, at work on the podium knows that this performance is in good hands.

Presented by: Hungarian National Philharmonic