Glimmerglass Amneris in 2012

The Glimmerglass Festival 2012 Season Announced: Daveda Karanas will sing the role of Amneris in festival's first ever production of Aida, directed by Francesca Zambello.

Following is the complete AIDA portion of the Glimmerglass announcement:

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AIDA (Giuseppe Verdi/Antonio Ghislanzoni, 1871)

Aida will open and close the season in a new production that emphasizes the personal drama at the heart of Verdi’s masterpiece. This will be the first production of Aida presented at Glimmerglass.

“Aida is often thought of as a grand opera, a spectacle with elephants and pyramids,” Zambello said. “I have always wanted to present Aida in an intimate setting where we can focus on the tensions of politics between Egypt and Ethiopia through the prism of the love triangle.” 

2011 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Winner Michelle Johnson will sing the title role of the captive princess. Eric Owens will perform the role of Amonasro in his role debut. 

“This role is something I have been wanting to do for a long time,” Owens said. “Over the last five or six years my voice has settled higher and I want to do more crossover into certain baritone repertoire.”

Daveda Karanas will sing the role of Amneris.  Karanas can be seen in the Ring Cycle at San Francisco Opera as 2nd Norn in the new production of Götterdämmerung and Waltraute in Die Walküre. Award-winning fashion designer Bibhu Mohapatra will design costumes for the production directed by Francesca Zambello. Nader Abbassi, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Cairo Opera Orchestra, will conduct the piece in his company debut.

“Since I was a child, Aida has been my favorite opera, and it was always my dream to conduct this piece,” Abbassi said. “I have had the honor to conduct Aida in more than six countries at important festivals – in Asia, Russia, China, Europe and in Africa by the pyramids where I belong. Now I feel the excitement and challenge of being an Egyptian conducting this great opera at Glimmerglass. I am thrilled, but overall I am proud.”

Robert Wierzel will design lighting. Wierzel has designed more than 35 productions for Glimmerglass and designs this summer’s productions of Carmen and Medea. 

This production of Aida is sponsored by Elizabeth M. and Jean-Marie R. Eveillard.

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