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Classical

Grey, grey and more grey: Aida, at the Royal Opera House, reviewed

8 October 2022

9:00 AM

8 October 2022

9:00 AM

Aida

Royal Opera House, until 12 October

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Collon

Symphony Hall, Birmingham

Grey. More grey. So very, very grey. That’s the main visual impression left by Robert Carsen’s new production of Verdi’s Aida. Possibly a few older operagoers still think of Aida as a fabulous spectacle: horses, temples, caparisoned elephants and all the gilded splendour of the Pharaohs. But if you cut your opera-going teeth more recently than 1990 – and unless you’re going to one of the more lavish Ellen Kent efforts – you’ll know by now to expect nothing of the sort.

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