The Curse of Aida

The opera Aida, deeply inspired by Egypt, was written by Giuseppe Verdi for performance at Cairo's Khedivial Opera House. This opera has always been entwined with the history and culture of the city and its residents.

The year is 1971. Cairo resident Kismet believes the spirit of Aida, the opera's title character, has touched her and may be communicating with her through her dreams. A devout lover of opera, history, and the famous opera house itself, Kismet is shocked to learn that it has mysteriously burned to the ground. All of Cairo reverberates with the unsettling news.

Kismet and her mother, along with a Cairo University professor, a Cairo police detective, and several other disparate characters, cross paths as they seek the truth behind the crime-and the four murders linked to it.

The Curse of Aida investigates the background of Verdi's famous work and its relationship with the opera house, and author Osama Ettouney edges ever closer to the heart of the never-resolved arson as he lovingly chronicles life in vibrant Cairo. While his characters are born of his imagination, Ettouney's mystery is based on the very real destruction of the historic opera house, one of Egypt's cultural treasures.