A visual ritual in which beauty and conflict are in constant dialogue
“When love and duty contradict each other, the heart becomes altar and abyss at once”
Søren Kierkegaard
Liceu opens the season with an exceptional cast led by Anna Netrebko and Anna Pirozzi in the role of Aida, together with Yusif Eyvazov and Piotr Beczała as Radamès. A luxurious opening to bring to life one of Verdi’s most monumental operas, presented in a striking production by the Iranian artist Shirin Neshat, who transforms Aida into “a visual ritual in which beauty and conflict are in constant dialogue”.
This production, originally created for the Salzburg Festival, avoids the usual grandiloquence and places Verdi’s drama in a universe of great symbolic force. Neshat, with her poetic and committed vision, transforms Aida into a story that engages with contemporary tensions: identity, exile, oppression and the fragility of power. The opera thus becomes a mirror of the present, in which aesthetics combine with a subtle yet piercing political reading.
Often interpreted as a love story set in an idealised Egypt, Aida reveals a deeper conflict: the collision between the sacred and established power. Aida, an enslaved Ethiopian princess, and Radamès, an Egyptian hero, love each other in secret and challenge a system that condemns love as dissent. Their story, doomed from the beginning, exposes a rigid structure in which law and religion are confused in order to justify repression.
Neshat’s stage interpretation intensifies this tension with a visual beauty that does not renounce criticism. In the final tomb, Aida and Radamès find one last space of freedom: death becomes redemption, an act of emotional and spiritual liberation that transcends the violence surrounding them.
With the musical direction of Antonello Manacorda, and with Ekaterina Semenchuk and Ksenia Dudnikova as Amneris, as well as Artur Ruciński and Igor Golovatenko in the role of Amonasro, this Aida opens the Liceu season as a great total spectacle: emotion, reflection and a visual force that invites the audience to experience opera as a ritual and contemporary experience.
Opera in four acts
Libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni
World premiere: 24 December 1871 at the Cairo Opera
Premiere in Barcelona: 16 April 1876 at the Teatre Principal
Premiere at the Gran Teatre del Liceu: 25 February 1877
Last performance at the Liceu: 2 February 2020
Total performances at the Liceu: 468
With the support of:
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Dates and tickets
| Exclusive function for under 35s | |||||
| Subscription F | Buy tickets for Aida | ||||
| Subscription A | Buy tickets for Aida | ||||
| Subscription PE | Buy tickets for Aida | ||||
| Subscription B | Buy tickets for Aida | ||||
| Subscription E | Buy tickets for Aida | ||||
| Subscription PB | Buy tickets for Aida | ||||
| Subscription T | Buy tickets for Aida | ||||
| Subscription G | Buy tickets for Aida | ||||
| Subscription P | Buy tickets for Aida | ||||
| Subscription PC | Buy tickets for Aida | ||||
| Subscription C | Buy tickets for Aida | ||||
| Subscription PD | Buy tickets for Aida | ||||
| Subscription D-H | Buy tickets for Aida | ||||
| Buy tickets for Aida | |||||
| Buy tickets for Aida | |||||
| LiceuOPERA+ | Estrena digital |
General public sale on Monday, 15 June 2026 at 10:00 a.m.
Artistic profile
- Stage direction
- Shirin Neshat
- Set design
- Christian Schmidt
- Choreography
- Dustin Klein
- Costume design
- Tatyana van Walsum
- Lighting design
- Felice Ross
- Video
- Shirin Neshat
- Co-production
- Opéra national de Paris and Gran Teatre del Liceu, based on the original production from the Salzburg Festival
- Chorus of the Gran Teatre del Liceu
- Conductor Pablo Assante
- Symphony Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu
- Conductor Antonello Manacorda and Josep Gil
Cast
Cast Changes
- Baritone Àngel Òdena joins the cast of Aida in the role of Amonasro, replacing Ariun Ganbaatar.
- Bass Vittorio De Campo joins the cast of Aida in the role of the King, replacing Manuel Fuentes.
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Aida
Wednesday 23 September at 19:30h
Opera + DJ + Food Stands
Coming soon
Are you between 18 and 35 years old? Join the LiceUnder 3 Community
With the support of:
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Special sessions
Breathing opera is a guided 30-minute session, led by coach Mònica Arús, with the soundscape of music therapist Núria Andorrà, in which we will practice simple breathing, relaxation and mindfulness exercises to enter a state of calm and openness that helps us enjoy the performance with presence and awareness.
Friday 9 October
18:30 h (Access via the entrance on Carrer Sant Pau 15 minutes before the session starts)
Buy the full experience here: mindfulness session + opera performance.
Liceu OPERA+
Subscribers to Liceu OPERA+ will be able to enjoy the live broadcast of Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida at the Liceu, with stage direction by Shirin Neshat and conducted by maestro Josep Gil.
Sunday 25 October: Digital premiere
Audiodescription
Live audio description service in one performance of each staged opera, providing information about key visual elements, for the benefit of blind and visually impaired audiences. The service consists of two parts: an audio introduction fifteen minutes before the start of the performance, and simultaneous audio description during the show.
LifeVoice app
To listen to the audio description, simply click on Audiodescripció al Liceu, or enter the LiveVoice app and use the code: 075177.
Sunday 11 October
18 h