AÏDA: One Woman, Two Nations, and Verdi's Egyptomania

The title character of the grandest of grand operas is a princess who struggles with whether a sense of duty to her nation should prevail over her private desires. While set in Egypt, the work profoundly reflects the struggles and conflicts Verdi felt about the new nation of Italy. Mr. Plotkin will discuss the opera, where and how Verdi found his Egyptian influences, its reception at the Cairo Opera House in 1871, and the many meanings it contains.

Fred Plotkin, one of the country’s foremost experts on opera, is the author of Opera 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Opera.  He has lectured about opera for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, BAM, the Smithsonian, the Morgan Library, the Los Angeles Opera, the Wagner Society of Southern California, the Salzburg Festival and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. His seminars at the Metropolitan Opera Guild are always sold out, as are his opera/food tours to Italy.