Aida: Homelands
Explore the World Behind Aida
Step beyond the opera house and into the music, culture, food, and history of Ethiopia at Aida: Homelands;
an immersive evening designed to deepen your connection to Verdi’s iconic opera and the woman at its heart.
Date: Sunday, October 11, 2026
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: TolHouse (1447 N. Summit St., Toledo, OH)
Tickets: $75
At the heart of Aida is an Ethiopian princess, captured and enslaved in Egypt, who finds herself caught between two worlds: the man she loves and the homeland and people to whom she belongs. Before the curtain rises, Aida: Homelands invites us to spend an evening exploring that part of her story; and the culture, music, food, and history of Ethiopia.
Set throughout the beautiful and distinctive spaces of TolHouse, this special evening will feature traditional Azmari music, an Ethiopian buffet from Taste of Ethiopia in Detroit, and a presentation by musicologist Dr. Ryan Ebright. Through music, food, and scholarship, Dr. Ebright will explore Aida, Ethiopia’s role in the opera, and some of the historical and cultural context surrounding Verdi’s iconic work.
Special guest soprano Mariam Battistelli, who was born in Ethiopia and raised in Italy, will also speak with guests about her own story and her experiences as an artist whose personal history connects her to the cultures explored throughout the evening. Battistelli has performed at leading opera houses and festivals throughout Europe and internationally, including Teatro alla Scala, the Vienna State Opera, Staatsoper Hamburg, Teatro La Fenice, the Royal Opera House of Muscat, and the Glyndebourne Festival.
Following the success of last season’s Top Shelf, Toledo Opera’s Audience Development Committee is delighted to once again bring our community together for an evening that invites us to experience opera from a different perspective. With Aida, exploring the Ethiopian heritage of its central character felt like a particularly meaningful place to begin.
Whether you’re discovering Aida for the first time or have loved the opera for years, we hope Aida: Homelands offers an opportunity to listen, learn, gather, and connect. Opera has a remarkable way of bringing together music, history, culture, and human stories; and sometimes, looking at a familiar work through a new lens can reveal a connection we hadn’t seen before.
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Ryan Ebright is an award-winning historical musicologist specializing in opera and music after 1945. His research has appeared in the Cambridge Opera Journal, American Music, and other scholarly publications, and his writing has also been featured in The New York Times, Opera News, The New Yorker, and NewMusicBox. A frequent public speaker and program essayist, Ebright has worked with organizations including Toledo Opera, Detroit Opera, Opera Philadelphia, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Toledo Symphony. He is an Associate Professor of Musicology and Affiliated Faculty in American Culture Studies at Bowling Green State University, where he teaches courses on contemporary opera and other post-1945 musical developments. |
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Mariam Battistelli is an Italian soprano born in Ethiopia who has performed on leading stages throughout Europe and internationally. She trained at the Conservatory of Music “Lucio Campiani” in Mantua and was a member of the Centre de Perfeccionament “Plácido Domingo” at Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia. A winner of both the First Prize and Audience Prize at the 16th International Competition “Ottavio Ziino” in Rome, Battistelli subsequently joined the Vienna State Opera Ensemble, where she performed roles including Musetta in La bohème, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte. Her career has taken her to Teatro alla Scala, Staatsoper Hamburg, Teatro La Fenice, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, the Royal Opera House of Muscat, and the Glyndebourne Festival. She also portrays Euridice in the 2025 film The Opera! – Arie per un’eclissi, directed by Davide Livermore. |
This event generously sponsored by: Kelli and Thomas Winston; Shumaker Loop & Kendrick, LLP; and Nathaniel-Waldon Group, LLC.
Thanks to our Sponsors:
Kelli & Thomas Winston