The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) The Met: LIVE in HD – Season 10 explores the grandeur of Egypt in its fourth installment with Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida this May 6, 2025, at 5:30 p.m., at Glorietta 4, Cinema 1 in Makati City.

Thrust into an empire war between Ethiopia and Egypt, Verdi’s Aida narrates a romance while unearthing faded scenery with historic monuments and animated projections under the direction of Tony-winner Michael Mayer.

“Ever since I was a kid, I was obsessed with ancient Egypt. I loved the visuals and the symbolism. I loved the pomp, the pyramids, the mummies, the hieroglyphics,” said director Mayer, who also created The Met stagings of Verdi’s Rigoletto and La Traviata. “I even managed to get a sarcophagus and a Cleopatra dancer into my Rigoletto. So right away, I was excited about getting to work on a new Aida.”

Verdi’s Aida is a visual spectacle of forbidden love. Aida, enslaved by Egyptian Princess Amneris, captures the heart of Commander Radamès. But unbeknownst to Radamès, Aida is the daughter of his enemy, King Amonasro of Ethiopia. At its core, this majestic opera expounds on the titular character’s dilemma of choosing between love and loyalty to her country.

In Mayer’s reinterpretation, Grammy-winner Angel Blue breathes life into Aida while tenor Piotr Beczała is the valiant Radamès. Judit Kutasi embodies Aida’s rival, Princess Amneris, following her debut in Verdi’s La Forza del Destino in 2024 at The Met. Music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, 2025 Grammy-nominee for Best Opera Recording, takes the podium for Mayer’s staging of the gilded tombs of Egypt.

Aida is only one of Verdi’s 26 operas that impacted Italy’s cultural and political landscape. From an antiquity he discovered, French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette envisioned a love story set in ancient Egypt. Verdi wrote Aida following this proposal. Riding Europe’s fascination for all things foreign and exotic, multi-talented revolutionary Antonio Ghislanzoni developed it into a libretto in 1870.