The Virginian-Pilot
Page Laws
March 19, 2026
Now looming large at our own Virginia Opera, “Aida” is grand opera with an equally monumental history: in its origins, its past performances and its theatrical punch. This particular “Aida” is large and grand in a new, technologically modified way. But first let’s look at the show’s daunting history.
According to Schirmer’s Collection of Opera Librettos, “Aida” was originally conceived of as a work to celebrate the completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, but – whoops! – composer Giuseppe Verdi wouldn’t cooperate. He and his librettist, Antonio Ghislanzoni, missed that opportunity but finally completed their own big dig (this opera) in 1871 at the behest of the Khedive of Egypt (and his harem). Other big details of this opera’s history abound. The show was sung in German when it came to The Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 1886. When the Met later returned to Italian, the famous Enrico Caruso played Radames, the unlucky hero of this our love story, set in Egypt at the time of the pharaohs.