Princess Muna attends ‘Aida’ performance, proceeds to aid Gaza

AMMAN — HRH Princess Muna Hussein on Friday attended the premiere of “Aida”, performed by Jordanian soprano Zeina Barhoum, at the Amman Academy Theatre.

Part of the proceeds from the event will be donated to the people of Gaza, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Saturday.

The performance, part of the fifth edition of the three-day Amman Opera Festival, featured musicians from the Jordanian Armed Forces-Arab Army.

Opening the performance, the first of its kind in Jordan, in the presence of Amman Mayor Yousef Shawarbeh and Asaad Abdul Rahman, founder of the Palestine International Institute, praised the cooperation between the festival and the charity.

The show, a dramatic musical theatre work composed by 19th-century Italian musician Giuseppe Verdi, featured artists from Italy and Spain alongside Jordanian performers.

The performance told a love story between Aida, an Ethiopian maid of the Pharaoh’s daughter and a member of a royal family, and Radames, the commander of the Egyptian army who led Egypt to victory over the invading Ethiopian forces.

 The Egyptian pharaoh sentenced Radames to death after discovering his attempt to escape to Ethiopia with Aida.

Aida was first performed in 1871 at the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo, Egypt, although Verdi was unable to attend, and took place at La Scala in Italy in February 1872.