Opera "Aida" by Giuseppe Verdi
23 September 2026 – 15 October 2026 · 19:30
Gran Teatre del Liceu, el Raval, Ciutat Vella
The Liceu opens its season with an exceptional cast led by Anna Netrebko and Anna Pirozzi in the role of Aida, alongside Yusif Eyvazov and Piotr Beczała as Radamès. A luxurious opening for one of Verdi's most monumental operas, presented in a striking production by Iranian artist Shirin Neshat, who turns Aida into “a visual ritual in which beauty and conflict are constantly in dialogue”. Originating at the Salzburg Festival, this production avoids the usual grandiosity and places Verdi's drama in a universe of strong symbolic power. With her poetic and committed perspective, Neshat transforms Aida into a story that engages with contemporary tensions: identity, exile, oppression and the fragility of power. The opera thus becomes a mirror of the present, combining aesthetics with a subtle yet incisive political reading. Often interpreted as a love story set in an idealised Egypt, Aida reveals a deeper conflict: the collision between the sacred and established power. Aida, an enslaved Ethiopian princess, and Radamès, an Egyptian hero, love one another in secret and defy a system that condemns love as dissent. Their story, doomed from the beginning, exposes a rigid structure in which…
Source: Ajuntament de Barcelona · checked on 8 September 2026