Aida & the Ayatollahs - The New Criterion
The Paris Opera revived a production of Aida this fall, importing a staging from the 2017 Salzburg Festival. This version was created by Iranian visual artist, photographer, and film director Shirin Neshat for Anna Netrebko’s debut in the title role, with Riccardo Muti conducting. Neshat, despite her impressive background in other art forms, had no prior experience directing opera, making this a challenging first effort.
Film elements featured prominently, especially black-and-white footage showing migrants—primarily women in somber attire near the sea. These sequences occasionally felt tentative and somewhat detached from the main drama. Otherwise, the production aligned with Muti’s preference against radical reimaginings, though this was weakened by Neshat’s conventional "stand-and-sing" direction of the lead performers.
The production was revived again at Salzburg in 2022 with reported changes.
At the Paris Opera, Neshat, known for championing women’s rights, expanded her creative interpretation. She drew a striking parallel between the priests in the opera—wearing flowing, ayatollah-style beards—and the rigid theocratic regime of her homeland, intensifying the opera’s themes of violence.
“Parallels between the opera’s priests—decked out with flowing, ayatollah-style beards—and the hardline theocrats of her estranged country made the opera’s violence more pronounced.”
Despite some uneven integration of film and staging, this revival reflects Neshat’s distinct vision and highlights the production’s political and social undertones.
Author’s summary: Shirin Neshat’s Aida revival at the Paris Opera blends political symbolism with traditional staging, offering a powerful visual and thematic commentary despite some directional restraint.