Aida on Sydney Harbour

Opera's great historic epic performed at the grandest scale – live on Sydney Harbour.

Aida is the ultimate in operatic spectacle: love, war and grandeur combine for an experience centuries in the making.

An 18-metre tall, 15-tonne rotating bust of Nefertiti overlooks the stage. 130 performers and musicians bring Ancient Egypt to life. Fireworks light up the sky at every performance.

Aida is the biggest opera ever mounted on Sydney Harbour. Verdi sets an intimate story of forbidden love against the fates of empires, where kingdoms rise and fall and history marches relentlessly on.

Few stages in the world can match Sydney Harbour for a production of this scale: as city lights begin to sparkle and the Sydney Opera House is silhouetted against the setting sun. With pop-up bars and dining this is one of the city's most treasured events.

But amid all of the spectacle, there's an emotional heart. Long after the fireworks have faded from the sky and Amneris sings her quiet, concluding prayer, you'll see the true mastery of this opera: it is at once an historic epic and a profoundly moving human tragedy.