Tragically deprived -- for the most part -- of great conductors and great singers in the extremely low key, on-the-cheap Scala opera season that was unveiled yesterday (the symphony and recital season is better, as we'll report later this week), Opera Chic was instantly cheered up today while checking out the really cool program of MI-TO, the classical music / theater extravaganza that will take place in September in Milan and Turin.
230 shows in 25 days between Turin & Milan, from September 1: music will go from Haydn (the Harmoniemesse conducted in Milan's Chiesa di San Marco -- where Verdi himself conducted the premiere of his Requiem -- by the great Maestro del Coro of Teatro alla Scala, the priceless Bruno Casoni) to Zemlinsky and Stockhausen and Birtwistle.
The opening event: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by Mariss Jansons, in a Messiaen/Debussy/ Musorgskij night at la Scala. In Milan, the next day, a Bruckner/Ades program with Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Most.
And then, la Ceci Bartoli, Mariella Devia, Kurt Masur, Valery Gergiev, Kurt Masur, Uto Ughi, Gianandrea Noseda, and much moah.
The whole program, in pdf, is here