AIDA (OPERA)

Finger Lakes Opera at Rochester Auditorium Theatre, Summer 2023

SUMMARY AND CREDITS

AIDA by Guiseppe Verde

Direction: Stephanie Havey
Scenic Design:
Costume Design:
Lighting Design: Derek Van Heel
Assistant Lighting Designer: Andrew DG Hunt

Aida is an epic, but simple love story: The Egyptians have captured and enslaved Aida, an Ethiopian princess. An Egyptian military commander, Radamès, struggles to choose between his love for her and his loyalty to Pharaoh. To complicate the story further, the King's daughter Amneris is in love with Radamès, although he does not return her feelings.

The lighting needed to be as big as the set and the singers to fill our space. We employed large washes of saturated warm and cold color to heighten the sense of the fairy tale, and for singer visibility we used two spots on the singers at almost all times, at a low level to sculpt them and pull them out of the background.