WESTFIELD — Join New Jersey Festival Orchestra, Music Director David Wroe, in collaboration with Opera at Florham, for its season opening performance Aida in concert, Giuseppi Verdi’s exotic masterpiece and one of the most loved operas in the entire classical repertoire.
Passion, honor and the battlefield provide the dynamic backdrop for this tragic tale and treacherous love triangle of the Egyptian general Radames, the Ethiopian slave Aida who loves him, and the Egyptian princess Amneris who loves him too.
NJ Festival Orchestra’s concert performance of Aida promises to be a blockbuster from pretty much every angle —rousing sound, stunning drama, surging choruses, musical ceremony, triumphant fanfares, exhilarating orchestral music, and, of course, some of Verdi’s most memorable and impassioned tunes and arias.
An opera as big as Aida demands powerful voices hence the orchestra’s massive collaboration with some of NJ’s finest organizations — Opera at Florham and the dramatic double chorus of Coro Lirico and Summit Chorale — as well as with international guest stars from NY Metropolitan Opera and beyond.
Soprano Lisa Daltirus sings Aida, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Roderer features as the Egyptian princes Amneris, Tenor Allan Glassman sings the Egyptian warrior Radames and baritone Louis Otey features as the Ethiopian King Amonasro. The performance will be sung in Italian with English supertitles. David Wroe conducts. Expect monumental sound and explosive results.
Performances take place on Sat., Oct. 12 at 8 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church in Westfield and on Sun., Oct. 13 at 3 p.m. at Ridge Performing Arts Center in Ridge High School, Basking Ridge. Tickets range in price from $25 to $75 with a special discount price of $12 for students. All ticket holders are invited to attend a free pre-concert lecture by Barbara Thomson prior to the performance.
Tickets for both performances are available for purchase at www.njfestivalorchestra.org, by phone at 908-232-9400 for the Westfield performance or 973-408-3978 for the Basking Ridge performance.