“La Scala’s season opens with a powerful Tosca” (Financial Times). Premiered in 1900 with huge success, Puccini’s “melodramma” Tosca is one of the most dramatic thrillers in the history of opera. In this performance Riccardo Chailly conducted “a magnificent orchestra and a sonorous choir” (NMZ) while Anna Netrebko had sung “phenomenally. She still has one of the most beautiful voices today.” (Deutschlandfunk) With “Francesco Meli, probably unsurpassable in this role at the moment: lyrically soft, and then again impressively expressive”, and Luca Salsi also “very convincing as the slick, power-conscious Scarpia” (BR Klassik), La Scala has engaged the highest-calibre partners imaginable.
Tosca
“La Scala’s season opens with a powerful Tosca” (Financial Times). Premiered in 1900 with huge success, Puccini’s “melodramma” Tosca is one of the most dramatic thrillers in the history of opera. In this performance Riccardo Chailly conducted “a magnificent orchestra and a sonorous choir” (NMZ) while Anna Netrebko had sung “phenomenally. She still has one of the most beautiful voices today.” (Deutschlandfunk) With “Francesco Meli, probably unsurpassable in this role at the moment: lyrically soft, and then again impressively expressive”, and Luca Salsi also “very convincing as the slick, power-conscious Scarpia” (BR Klassik), La Scala has engaged the highest-calibre partners imaginable.
Andrea Chénier
Andrea Chénier, which premiered at La Scala in 1896, was last performed here 32 years ago by Riccardo Chailly. “By choosing to work with director Mario Martone, known for his films as well as his work in opera and theatre, Chailly has given overall coherence to his cinematic vision. This production is beautifully crafted and full of grim period detail. Riccardo Chailly conducted with vitality and drive“ (Financial Times) and in the main roles Yusif Eyvazov “proved to be technically very skilled“ and Anna Netrebko´s “beautifully timbred and perfectly tuned voice“ (theoperacritic.com) made “the acoustic experience of the Milanese Chénier high-class“. (BR Klassik)
Die Entführung aus dem Serail
The unforgettable “masterful use of light and silhouettes” (Milano Post) with which Giorgio Strehler interpreted the charm of Mozart’s Singspiel was conceived for the Salzburg Festival, where it was staged in 1965 under the baton of then 29 year old Zubin Mehta, and then regularly revived at La Scala from 1972 onwards. At twenty years since the death of the great director, who from 1951 staged some by-now legendary operas at La Scala, Teatro alla Scala proposed anew this celebrated staging and called to the podium the man who conducted it the first time – Zubin Mehta. “Extraordinary, a wonder …” (Corriere Della Sera). The stage set with magnificent palace architecture and a sea view at centre is a veritable feast for the eyes, which is equally true for the elaborately and lovingly designed costumes. The viewer feels like he‘s being transported into the oriental aura. The fact that the current performance is conducted by Maestro Zubin Mehta, now over 80 years old, builds a bridge to Strehler‘s Salzburg production, which dates back more than half a century, and at the same time provides a touching detail of this timelessly monumental performance.