40,000 Chinese View Verdi's Opera "Aida"Some 40,000 Chinese viewed "Aida," the classic opera by Giuseppe Fortunino F. Verdi, at Shanghai Stadium Friday night.This is the grandest scenic performance ever held in the world, with a 30-meter-high mock Sphinx standing on a 5,000-square-meter stage. The show was an idea conceived by Myers International Company Ltd. of the United States and some Shanghai artists, who are celebrating the Shanghai International Art Festival. The ancient Egyptian soldiers were played by more than 1,900 People's Liberation Army men, who entered the stadium amid audience's explosive applause. An army of real beasts, including elephants, tigers and lions, also entered the stadium. Italian tenor Lando Bartolini starred as Radames, the hero, a Egyptian general who fell in love with Aida, princess of Ethiopia, who was played by Russian artist Olga Romanko. This is the first time for "Aida" to be staged in a 80,000-seat stadium. "Aida" was written by Verdi in 1871 and it is regarded as one of the top 10 operas in the world. In 1986, the opera was staged in front of the Pyramids and Sphinx in Egypt. |
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