AIDA • BERLIN
★★★★★★
Photo: Herwig Prammer
REVIEW AIDA IN BERLIN: OPERA BURNING WITH RELEVANCE
Calixto Bieito takes the thesis theater to its purest form in his production of Aida*at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. A production that, since its premiere in 2023, has drawn both boos and bravos—and which, in its current revival, is playing to sold-out houses in Berlin. A magnificent and uncompromising theatrical experience that leaves no one unmoved.
Photo: Herwig Prammer
The exciting Spanish director, who has never been afraid to take a few hits, has stripped Verdi’s masterpiece of monumental opera and pyramidal staging. Instead, he turns his gaze toward power, colonialism, and the psychological and moral costs of war.
Photo: Herwig Prammer
In the German and international press, a clear picture emerges: The musical aspect is highly praised. The staging divides opinion. To some critics, the result appears consistent and thought-provoking. To others, it is overly explanatory and far removed from the emotional intensity that Aida traditionally thrives on.
Bieito’s approach becomes clear early in the performance. The future military commander Radamès sings of his love for the slave girl Aida in his iconic aria—but behind him, large video projections appear: English and German bombers from World War II, raining bombs down on the civilian population in bombed-out cities. At the same time, the proud warrior romantically declares that he will win the war as a seal of their love. Or to put it another way: set the world on fire for his own gain. A potent cocktail of musical beauty and visual shock.
Photo: Herwig Prammer
The next example hits even harder. The gladiators’ march of entry is blared out crystal-clear from the famous long Aida horns on a platform high above the stage. At the same time, a Joker-like, symbolic figure whips a group of captured children across the stage—dragging garbage bags containing their last possessions. The juxtaposition of the heroic music of victory and the displaced children is an image that burns itself into the mind. Congratulations on the beautiful victory. No, indeed.
Photo: Herwig Prammer
This is where Bieito’s project stands out most clearly. The atrocities of war are given absolute priority. The love story is reduced to a dramatic engine in the service of politics. The result is an insistent anti-war argument disguised as opera.
It is sharply cut thesis theater that is easy to get angry at—but just as easy to warm up to in its uncompromising determination to be relevant. This is not yet another colorful love story steeped in pharaonic folklore.
Photo: Herwig Prammer
As usual, Bieto has set the action in a modern, abstract space, where the exotic Egyptian references have been stripped away to lay bare the nerve of the production.
Whether you’ll be moved emotionally or challenged intellectually will depend on your temperament.
Musically, however, there is no doubt. Outstanding soloists, impressive choral performances, and a captivating orchestra ensure that Calixto Bieito’s Aida, despite—or perhaps precisely because of—its uncompromising staging, ends up as an unforgettable experience. Six stars from GOT TO SEE THIS
