I perceived him as more of a lyrical tenor with compelling dramatic moments than vice versa. The difficulties of uniting a melodic line with a chamber-music accompaniment were quite apparent here. Although “Celeste Aida” struck me as just a hair short of transcendence, it was very captivating nevertheless. Tenor Russell Thomas, making his HGO debut in his first ever performance as Radamès, struck me as a very ardent singer indeed, always caring deeply about his expressive potential.
Particularly fine in my opinion were the exquisitely sculpted, even Brucknerian, choral moments in the Act I ritual finale. This renders such intimate moments as this that much more poignant. One gets a sense in the first half of the piece that Verdi is himself getting tired of the old notion of artificial set pieces and is trying to get the necessary dramatic exposition out of the way as quickly as possible. My reasoning for this was that her rendering of “O patria mia” was, by contrast, very intimate and well-negotiated. Photo: Lynn Lane.Īlthough Tamara Wilson as Aida had a tendency to wander about on the stage without a clear destination, particularly in the first half, I got a sense that this was more a liability of the production’s uneven concept than of her own abilities. Russell Thomas (Radamès) in Houston Grand Opera's production of Aida, 2020. The paradox is, of course, that this far back in history, anyone’s guess is as good as mine, and fantasy is as welcome as ever. Amneris ( Melody Moore), mourning on the upper level at the modern gated and illuminated entrance of some tomb in the Valley of the Kings, evokes mental images of how much we, in our own days, enjoy conjuring up the past and looking into people’s private lives. The use of lighting and curtains was particularly effective when it came to the final tomb scene, where we only could see Aida ( Tamara Wilson) and Radames ( Russell Thomas) through very small openings in the background wall. This might have seemed like an overly fussy interpretation of this triumphal moment, but I found it almost evocative of the funeral games from the Iliad, minus weapons and chariot races. The triumphal scene actually appeared to focus more on the solemnity and consequences of war, as various coffins were brought in for choristers to process around. Although the various dancers had plenty of room to maneuver, one could perceive a tight fit as far as everyone else was concerned. However, this had a way of making the stage appear too small to hold everyone with all of the props taking up precious space. However, this focus on various technical aspects was rather upended when it came to the bigger crowd scenes, where the curtain would open fully to reveal a fuller scene upstage. HGO Studio Alum Peixin Chen (front centre) and current HGO Studio artistDorothy Gal (back centre) in Houston Grand Opera's production of Aida, 2020. This rendered the Act III trio somewhat difficult to follow if you were seated on one of the sides of the theatre, given the lines of sight. Characters maneuver around them and discuss plans in their shadow. Throughout the production, one could see many of these geometric shapes infiltrating the scene at many different points.
Perhaps this was to represent an obelisk or even a pyramid, though the sides were so steep as to resemble the Nubian pyramids of the Late Period. The prelude, for instance, opened with a controlled opening of the curtains to reveal a blazing pillar of triangular light.
I use the word “illuminated” with intent, as light was a very pivotal concept for this production. But when combined with all the little moments that this production highlighted, which one has to take along with the “greatest hits,” it illuminated me greatly as to just how much a master of drama Verdi certainly is. Certainly, the big moments in Aida are inescapable, even ubiquitous, in the artistic world.
Even though Phelim McDermott’s new staging was uneven, it had many aspects that led me to understand how little I really knew this piece. Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida came across in Houston Grand Opera’s recent rendition as a well-oiled machine. Transcendent music & uneven staging in HGO's Aida Review Andrew Schneider Feb 9, 2020
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