Stage director Graham Vick and set designer Paul Brown conjure up an "open-air spectacle of superlatives" (Die Zeit) that links ancient Egypt with modern-day America. The stage effects are stunning: ruins of the Statue of Liberty pieced together with the help of giant cranes, boats bearing priestesses and prisoners - parts of the opera even taking place in the lake itself! Under Carlo Rizzi, the Wiener Symphoniker brilliantly support the chorus and soloists, prominent among whom being Iano Tamar as Amneris and Tatiana Serjan as Aida.