Aida returned to the Met’s stage for the 1199th time today. It was the 4th time Verdi’s masterpiece has been telecast in the company’s HD series. This appearance marked the first telecast of Michael Mayer’s new production that replaced Sonja Frisell’s extravaganza which had survived about 270 mountings at the New York opera palace and was replaced for no discernible reason.

Director Michael Mayer having previously wreaked havoc on Rigoletto and La Traviata did the same with the master’s Egyptian epic. But as usual, Verdi can survive any semiconscious conceit. Mayer has a team of early 20th-century archeologists (the modern term for grave robbers) discover the ruins of buildings in ancient Memphis where the opera is set. We are lucky that he didn’t move the scene to Tennessee. They wandered around during the whole opera as if they were January 6th rioters seeking the capital only in the wrong year and country. They even replaced the usual menagerie during the Triumphal Scene’s famous march – The March of the Archeologists was what we got.

The sets were dark and dingy and looked like Le Corbusier’s stone fortress construction of Chandigarh in the Punjab. They were so drab as to suggest they really were at least four millennia old. There was no Nile in the Nile scene and in fact, the set was the same for both Acts 3 and 4 though the stage elevator was used to raise the set and reveal an underground tomb for the opera’s last scene. The scene also has a prominent ballet. What we got was a regiment of male contortionists whose movements seemed choreographed by the Assistant Janitor at the Ministry of Silly Walks who had been given a giant set of Leggos. The dancers also tended to fall in sequence like a line of dominoes. Ballet in opera is always a poor relation, but this one looked starved.

The costumes for the principals had hints of ancient Egypt, though their colors were as muted as the scenery. Those for the supers looked as if they were borrowed from an Italian provincial opera house’s setting of Simon Boccanegra. Another Verdi opera waiting for Mayer to place in Coney Island.

Verdi can withstand any assault if the singers and orchestra are first-rate. Aida needs great singers to be realized as Verdi intended. Today there were some good ones in the cast. The title role is one of opera’s greatest and most challenging. Angel Blue was good as the enslaved princess, but she’s not a Verdi soprano. She has neither the vocal heft nor the silky sound required to realize the part. There’s little she can do to improve her impersonation as her voice is best suited for lighter roles.

Piotr Beczala suffers from the same problem. He’s a fine artist, but he’s a lirico-spinto tenor cast in a role that requires an heroic tenor like Caruso, Tucker, Corelli, or Domingo. Beczala finessed the difficult ending of Celeste Aida by emitting a throaty and weak B-flat. He would have done better to blast the note out in disregard of Verdi’s “pp” and “morendo” as most tenors do. Another miscast singer.

Romanian-Hungarian mezzo-soprano Judit Kutasi was very good as Amneris. She has sung the role many times and has it down to a z. Good as she is, she lacks the volcanic fury needed to steal the show during the Temple Scene which is a real possibility for a great and larcenous mezzo.

The best singing of the afternoon came from baritone Quinn Kelsey. He has the Verdi sound and was outstanding in the relatively brief role of Amonasro. Dmitry Belosselskiy had a good if underpowered sound as the villainous priest Ramfis.

Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin seems to have gotten a grip on Verdi’s miraculous score compared to the broadcast I heard earlier in the month. The Met Orchestra hurled Verdi’s thunderous cords like a musical spear. They were tremendous as is Aida.

Video director Gary Halvorson was relatively restrained, at least by his endoscopic standard. The picture did not distract from the performance.

Aida occupies a special place in the Verdi canon. It was supposed to be his last major work. He was 58, rich, and famous at the time of the opera’s premiere. He intended to spend the rest of his life tending to his large farm and estate outside of Busseto. He had 30 years more to live, During that span he produced three major works – the Requiem Mass in honor of writer Alessandro Manzoni and his two valedictory operas Otello and Falstaff, each a masterpiece of the highest order.

Sixteen years separated Aida from Otello. Aida is such a perfect work that it’s hard to imagine that Verdi could match it yet surpass it. It is simultaneously grand and intimate – contrast the Triumphal Scene with the Tomb Scene. Verdi’s mastery of intensity and sensitivity is unmatched. It’s easy to think that its composer had concluded he had reached the limit of his genius. Yet miraculously he hadn’t. Aida is a perfect opera; still, Verdi was able to produce two operas even more perfect.

Verdi always thought the audience was the only critic that counts. The local theater in which I watched this performance was fuller than I’ve seen it during the entirety of this series of HD telecasts. Some people even drove from Odessa to Lubbock to see the performance – 139 miles. After more than a century and a half the critic still delivers the same verdict of approval.

Aida……….Ange Blue
Radamès……….Piotr Beczala
Amneris……….Judit Kutasi
Amonasro……….Quinn Kelsey
Ramfis……….Dmitry Belosselskiy
King……….Morris Robinson
Messenger……….Yongzhao Yu
Priestess……….Amanda Batista

Conductor……….Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Production……….Michael Mayer
Set Designre……….Christine Jones
Costume Designer……….Susan Hilferty
Lighting Designer……….Kevin Adams
Choreographer……….Oleg Glushkov .
Projection Design……….59 Productions

Production Consultant……….Stephen Pickover

Chorus Director……….Donald Palumbo

Video Director……….Gary Halvorson