Opera and Race: Aida

Before I start this, I would like to preface: I am a white male. As such, I have privilege, and lack the understanding and experience of people of colour. I acknowledge this and thusly aim to write this not to speak over the voices of people of colour, but to bring knowledge to this topic and open the conversation, especially for people it impacts. 

What I would like to talk about today is the issue of normalized racism in opera. While there are so many operas to talk about when it comes to this topic, today I will be covering Aida. Aida is an opera by Romantic Era composer Verdi that tells the forbidden romance story of Radamès, an Egyptian warrior, and Aida, an enslaved Ethiopian princess. The opera premiered on the 24th of December, 1871, at the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo. 

Opera is a very European and Euro-centric art form. Because of that, it is very typical to perform operas with all-white casts, even in cases such as Aida, where the people the opera is about are not white. While this is not okay, it is normalized. Especially considering how long opera has been around and the time periods it has survived. It's just become the norm.

While using blackface has stopped becoming a common or acceptable practice in much modern-day theatre, in opera darkening the skin with makeup to play roles is still not rare or unheard of. Recently, there was controversy over Aida with the Metropolitan Opera and the Arena di Verona over Russian soprano Anna Netrebko for her darkening her skin for the role of Aida. 

She was signed on to the Met after having done it before, and allegedly after the Met discouraged her from using makeup to appear darker, she went to a tanning salon. At the Arena di Verona, she and many other actors appeared with braids and darkened skin. Netrebko is white. An image of her for Aida can be found here: https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/07/15/arts/15opera-blackface2/15opera-blackface2-jumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp While criticized for her role in Aida before, Netrebko had to say “Black Face and Black Body for Ethiopian princess, for Verdi greatest opera! YES!” Yeah... Not great to say the least.

While this has been done by hundreds of white actresses before, this time it sparked a conversation and controversy. Controversy sparks conversation which is important. Racism in opera is sadly a very normalized thing, going back a long time. And while it is more understandable (though no less wrong) for over a century ago, it isn't something understandable for the modern age. So why do opera companies let it slide?

If you're doing a show about someone of a specific race or ethnicity, it isn't hard to actually cast someone of that race or ethnicity to perform the role. There are many amazing opera singers who are people of colour. People who the racism of opera impacts. People like Angel Blue, an opera singer who pulled out of performing at the Arena di Verona because of the actions of Anna Netrebko. 

Opera needs to adapt to survive. So normalize adapting out of this racist act. Cast the roles to the people who they reflect. After all, much of opera is supposed to reflect humanity. Luckily, many opera companies have started to step up. The opera company I work with for example, performed Aida last season, with the roles of Aida and Radamès played by Black performers. 

This is the bare minimum. We should expect and encourage more. So do your part in showing that things need to change.