From the Teatro Regio di Parma: "Aida" by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901). Conductor: Antonino Fogliani - Stage director: Joseph Franconi Lee. With Susanna Branchini (Aida), Mariana Pentcheva (Amneris), Walter Fraccaro (Radamès), Carlo Malinverno (The King of Egypt), George Andguladze (Ramfis), Alberto Gazale (Amonasro). "Aida", premiered in Cairo in 1871, has become Verdi's most popular work. This highlight in the international repertoire is a challenge for the musical and scenic resources of an opera house. At the opening ceremony of the Suez Canal in 1869, Verdi's "Rigoletto" was played. When the Opera House Cairo asked Verdi for a new work with an Egyptian story, he studied in detail Egyptian music and history in order to give his opera an exotic atmosphere.