With this year's production of Giuseppe Verdi's "Aida", the opera in the St. Margarethen quarry celebrated its 30th anniversary and set new standards in the European festival landscape. Around 100.000 visitors flocked to the idyllic quarry in the summer months, which has been home to one of the most spectacular open-air stages in Europe for three decades. The response to this year's production was overwhelming - both from cultural critics and the general public. This year's production of "Aida", directed by Thaddeus Strassberger, offered viewers a superlative visual and acoustic experience. The stage design, inspired by ancient Egyptian mythology and designed as a journey along the Nile, captivated the audience. The production, which combined elaborate light and water effects with an emotionally profound depiction of the plot, was reminiscent in its opulence of the great productions of the famous Verona Festival. Particularly noteworthy are the water features, which were used for the first time and were created by the French company Crystal, and which gave the stage a lively dynamic. The musical direction was in the experienced hands of Ivan Lopez-Reynoso, who masterfully managed to form the interplay between the orchestra, choir and soloists into a harmonious whole. The result was a musical quality that was so convincing that there were visitors who could hardly believe that the music was being played live. Critics' and audiences' opinions The reactions to the "Aida" production were consistently positive. The renowned Austrian daily newspaper *Die Presse* praised the production as a "worth seeing, also musically impressive production" which "in its scenic opulence is certainly