Aida Live on Sky Arts

Friday 9March 7.30pm Sky Arts 1/HD

Sky Arts will collaborate with Raymond Gubbay and the Royal Albert Hall to broadcast their unmissable production of Verdi’s operatic masterpiece Aida starring Claire Rutter and Joseph Wolverton on Friday 9 March at 7.30pm.  

In a bold scheduling move, Sky Arts 1 HD will dedicate its Friday night schedule to broadcast this exclusive spectacular production. Aida Live is part of Sky Arts commitment to become even bigger and bolder, with a range of groundbreaking new programmes, innovations and projects for 2012 which are set to inspire and engage its customers.

Staged in-the-round, viewers will be able to see Verdi’s opera unfold in the very heart of the Royal Albert Hall. The epic work explores the devastating consequences of a classic love triangle between Aida, the Ethiopian slave girl, the King’s daughter, Amneris, and Captain of the Guard, Radames. Culminating with the final entombment as the opera draws to its tragic close; this intense drama gave Verdi the perfect opportunity to compose some of his most poignant arias and powerful music. Aida received its world premiere in 1871, the same year that the Royal Albert Hall was opened as a charity to support the Arts and Sciences by Queen Victoria.

For this exclusive Sky Arts live broadcast, English soprano Claire Rutter will play the lead role of the slave girl Aida and American tenor Joseph Wolverton will play Radames. The production will be presented by Jamie Crick and Suzy Klien. The cast will be directed by Stephen Medcalf with designs by Isabella Bywater. Andrew Greenwood will conduct the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, with lighting design by Andrew Bridge and sound design by Bobby Aitken. The opera will be sung in Italian and it will be broadcast live with English subtitles.

 “This is an extraordinary production and we’re delighted to clear our schedules on Sky Arts 1 for the evening to run it in its entirety,” comments James Hunt, Director of Sky Arts. “With our new channel position and greater investments across all the arts, we are delighted to be able bring the very best and most exciting arts events to Sky Arts customers. With Raymond Gubbay at the helm with his award-wining cast, this promises to be a dramatic and unique operatic experience.”

Jasper Hope, Royal Albert Hall Chief Operating Officer adds: “The Royal Albert Hall is exceptionally proud of our part in creating this new production of Aida in collaboration with Raymond Gubbay. We are delighted to be able to partner with Sky Arts to ensure that our new production of Verdi’s wonderful opera, set in the ruins of ancient Egypt and brought to life in the magical setting of the Hall, will be seen live and in HD for the first time by so many unable to attend a performance on the world’s most famous stage.  To be able to follow the success of the Met Season already shown on Sky Arts, in our case as a charity with no public funding and no permanent opera company, is a great honour.”

Raymond Gubbay, Chairman of Raymond Gubbay Ltd adds: “We are delighted to be staging this brand new production of Verdi’s Aida in the 16th year of co-presenting opera with the Royal Albert Hall and are thrilled that Sky Arts have chosen this wonderful show to be the first of ours to be broadcast live in HD.”

Justin Rees of CC-Lab comments, “We are committed to capturing AIDA to give the Sky audience a unique entertainment experience of this breathtaking operatic production from the country's leading producers Raymond Gubbay and the Royal Albert Hall”.

 Sky Arts recent and exclusive live opera broadcasts include Mike Figgis’ Lucrezia Borgia and Jonathan Miller’s La Boheme from the English National Opera. Aida Live marks the first successful partnership with Raymond Gubbay and the Royal Albert Hall. Sky Arts 2 HD is currently broadcasting UK television premieres of operas from The New York Metropolitan Opera every Sunday evening.

 
Aida Live will broadcast on Friday 9th March at 7.30pm on Sky Arts 1 HD

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT

Katherine Solomon PR Manager, Sky Press Office
T: 0207 032 0599
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Dominic Collett Sky Arts Publicist, Sky Press Office
T: 0207 032 4892
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NOTES TO EDITOR

Aida Live

Production Company: CC-Lab

Executive Producers: Jason Hocking and Justin Rees, CC-Lab

Commissioned by James Hunt, Director of Sky Arts

About Sky Arts

Sky Arts offers an eclectic mix of the best music, arts, biographies, chat shows, film, drama and comedy. 2012 will see Sky Arts turn the spotlight on the best amateur dramatics companies in the UK in BRITAIN’S BEST AM-DRAM, exclusive productions from The Globe Theatre and Simon Callow’s one man play as part of a SHAKESPEARE SEASON and Ronnie Wood’s new show for Sky Arts. Popular series such as THE ONION NEWS NETWORK and ROMANZO CRIMINALE will sit alongside the premieres of Israeli dramas BE TIPUL and PRISONERS OF WAR. Sky Arts also encourages new formats and methods for accessing opera; beaming the world’s first live opera in 3D to cinemas across the UK and Ireland from ENO.

Sky Arts seeks to connect with culture on the ground; creating and collaborating with the best of the arts in the UK and Ireland to bring new experiences to life. The flagship show, The Book Show, now goes to four literary festivals including Hay and Cheltenham. The Sky Arts Ignition Series launched in in 2011 to invest in the arts landscape of the UK, following long term partnerships with English National Opera, English National Ballet and Artichoke. The Series will seek to collaborate with six arts organisations over the next three years in the creation of brand new works; Sky Arts Ignition Series: Futures Fund will support five young artists with a bursary of £30,000 each, enabling Sky Arts to back the creation of new works of art as well as nurture emerging talent.

See sky.com/arts

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Royal Albert Hall

The Royal Albert Hall is the world’s most famous stage. Its breathtaking auditorium hosts over 370 shows a year by the world’s greatest artists. The magical atmosphere combined with inspired artists creates legendary events.  Opened in 1871 as part of Prince Albert’s vision for a centre for the Arts and Sciences, and a registered charity operating without public funding, it remains true to his founding ambitions within a modern context.

Extending the brand with over 120 events outside the auditorium, the Hall has broadened its appeal to younger, diverse audiences whilst still engaging its existing customers. It also works extensively with schools and young people through its Education programme, reaching over 30,000 participants each year.

For more information, please visit www.royalalberthall.com
Registered charity no: 254543

Raymond Gubbay

Raymond Gubbay and the Royal Albert Hall have been co-producing opera since 1996. Past productions include: Madam Butterfly, Carmen, Tosca and La Boheme. Together with this new production of Aida, combined audiences are fast approaching 1 million people.

Aida will run from Thursday 23 February to Sunday 11 March 2012. Tickets from £21.50.