On August 16 and 20, 2017 Maria José Siri will return to the Arena di Verona in the title role of Aida in the historic Gianfranco De Bosio production under the musical direction of Andrea Battistoni, performing alongside Walter Fraccaro (Radames), Giovanna Casolla (Amneris), Carlos Almaguer (Amonasro), Deyan Vatchkov/Rafał Siwek (Ramfis) and George Andguladze/Ugo Guagliardo (Il Re).

“I’ve sung over one-hundred performances of Aida”, says the Uruguayan soprano. “After thirteen years and twenty-one productions, this wonderful character still lends itself to a wide range of interpretations: I can play it as a docile submissive sorrowful slave or as a proud Ethiopian princess, with so many shades in between. I have been singing it at the Arena for five consecutive seasons, in three different productions: The production by La Fura dels Baus in 2013 and 2014, that by Franco Zeffirelli in 2015 for my 100th performance of Aida and the staging by Gianfranco De Bosio, the latter inspired to the first stage design of the opera in 1913. Three very different stagings, each magnificent in its own right.”

Engagements this year and the upcoming season after this Aida in Verona will lead María José Siri to the Santander Festival (Verdi’s Messa da Requiem), the Gran Teatre del Liceu (Un ballo in maschera), the Teatro alla Scala (Messa per Rossini and a new production of Francesca da Rimini), the Palau de les Arts of Valencia (Don Carlo), the Teatro Comunale Bologna (Don Carlo) and to the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées Paris for a gala concert. She will also bring her celebrated Madama Butterfly to the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera Munich and the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Information about Aida at the Arena of Verona:

Ugo Guagliardo (Il re); Giovanna Casolla (Amneris), Maria José Siri (Aida), Walter Fraccaro/Hovhannes Ayvazyan (Radames), Rafał Siwek /Deyan Vatchkov (Ramfis), Carlos Almaguer (Amonasro), Antonello Ceron (un messaggero), Elena Borin (una sacerdotessa).

Gianfranco De Bosio (stage director); Andrea Battistoni (conductor).

http://www.arena.it/arena/en/shows/aida-1913-2017.html