Well, well, well… I have to say that when I saw this production in the fall of 2005, I was not very impressed until the last act and then I was riveted. We’ll see how it is this time… I’m very optimistic with such an exciting cast! But really, you guys at the Met, do you *need* to take away one of the much needed intermissions? What’s the difference of 20 minutes in a four hour long evening?

Aida by Guiseppe Verdi

(runs from Sept. 29th to Nov. 8th)

PEOPLE MAKING THE MUSIC:

Conductor – Kazushi Ono

Interesting conductor who is making his debut with the Met. Music Director of the Tokyo Philharmonic from 1992-1996. He now is music director of La Monnaie, an opera company in Brussels. There is actually a DVD of Ono conducting Aida with La Monnaie and there’s a short (not particurlarly telling) clip on the web. I’m always looking forward to new conductors at the Met and Maestro Ono certainly has the experience and resume to be conducting here.

Aida – Angela M. Brown/Micaela Carosi

Ms. Brown broke out into the international opera world with an incredible Met debut singing this role in 2004. Having missed that, I’m definitely looking forward to hearing her.

Amneris – Dolora Zajick/Olga Borodina/Luciana D’Intino

What a treat! Ms. Zajick is one of my favorite all-time singers and Ms. Borodina has also impressed me in previous productions. Not to mention the fact that Amneris is probably my favorite “bad girl” in opera (unless we’re talking Carmen, I suppose)… I love her in that last act.

Radames – Marco Berti

Amonasro – Andrezej Dobber/Juan Pons/Mark Delavan

Ramfis – Carlo Colombara/Vitalij Kowaljow

The King – Dimitri Kavrakos/Reinhard Hagen

THE PRODUCTION GUYS:

Production – Sonja Frisell

Assuming that this is the same production I saw, it is awesome! (Except that people had made me believe two years ago, that there were going to be real elephants on stage… Can’t believe I fell for that one!)

Set Designer – Gianni Quaranta

Costume Designer – Dada Saligeri

Lighting Designer – Gil Wechsler

Choreographer – Rodney Griffin

Stage Director – Stephen Pickover

THE JACOB RATING:

3 stars out of 5. OK, it’s not my favorite opera, but with interesting singers and a new conductor… how can I resist?