AIDA, Giza 20. October 2012

Aida is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette. Aida was first performed at the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo on 24 December 1871, conducted by  Giovanni Bottesini.
The famous tale of Aida is a tragic tale of love featuring an Egyptian captain, Pharaoh's daughter and an Ethiopian slave girl, Aida.
Radames, the Egyptian captain, is in love with the Ethiopian slave girl, Aida, and his love is secretly returned by her. Amneris, the daughter of the Egyptian king is also in love with Radames, and when she finds out that his heart is set for Aida, she gets jealous, and tries to convince him to love her instead.
Egypt is being invaded by the Ethiopian king, but the Egyptian army is strong, and proclaims their defiance of the invader and invokes victory on the head of Radames. Now Aida is torn between her love for Radames and her love for her country.
Amneris pretends to have sympathy with Aida for the defeat of her people, and tricks her into revealing her love for Radames and declares herself her rival. However, Aida restrains herself, on the brink of revealing her equality of rank, and begs for mercy.
Radames is brought through the gate in triumph, and the king offers any reward he chooses, and asks for the prisoners to be brought forward. Now, Aida recognizes her father, the Ethiopian king, who warns her not to betray his identity and then tells the king of Egypt that the Ethiopian king was killed in the battle. As his reward Radames asks for the life and freedom of the prisoners, which is granted by the king, but as advanced by high priest, he keeps Aida and her father as hostages. He awards Radames the hand of Amneris, who is triumphant, Radames thunderstruck and Aida downcast, but her father tries to encourage her with promises of vengeance.
Aida comes to bid farewell to Radames. Amonasro, her father, has been waiting for her and tries to persuade her to find out from Radames the route the army will be taking on a punitive expedition against the Ethiopians. When she refuses, he overwhelms her with a vision of her family and country laid waste and cursing her, adding the threat of his paternal curse - and she consents. He hides as Radames arrives.
When Aida sees Radames, she tells him, that she doesn’t believe, that he can disentangle himself from the marriage to Amneris. If he really loves her, the only way out is for them to flee to Ethiopia. He is reluctant, but eventually yields and she asks him which will be the safest way to travel, so as to avoid the Egyptian army. After he tells the route, Amonasro emerges from the shadows, promising that his army will be there, and Radames realizes that he has unwittingly betrayed his country, and refuses to flee with them. Instead he surrenders himself to the guards.
Radames is condemned to be buried alive, even though Amneris pleads for his life and curses them when they remain obdurate.
The remorseful Amneris hopes to save Radames, but he refuses her offer of help with its condition that he forgets Aida, accusing her of being responsible for Aida's death. She answers that although Amonasro was killed in the battle, Aida's fate is unknown. Radames spurns Amneris' love and declares that he is ready to die.
The entombed Radames regrets only that he does not know Aida's fate. But she has learnt of his sentence and crept into the tomb to die with him.
The show will be presented on the theater next to Al-Ahram Square, beside the Theatre of Sound and Light, which the Opera has specially built on an area of 1600 square meters, and four runways to accommodate thousands of viewers.

http://www.whitesharkegypt.com/articles-en-67896.html