Opera Chic

Scala GM Lissner Denies Paris Move; Early Departure From Milan Remains Likely

Those persistent rumors (see today's Dagospia) about Scala GM Stephane Lissner being on his way to Paris Opera to replace Nicolas Joel in 2015?

Lissner said earlier today in Milan that it's not going to happen.

Lissner's Scala very comfortable contract expires in 2017.

Still, despite today's remarks, the smart money seems to remain on Lissner leaving; by January 2013 the French government will have to announce the name of the new Opéra GM. If it's Lissner, as it seems to be increasingly likely, expect all hell to break loose in Milan.

Lissner, Barenboim, Top Scala Administrator To Take Voluntary 10% Pay Cut; Lissner's GM Contract Extended To 2017

In order to help the opera house's finances (Scala is 4.5 million euro in the red) Scala GM Stéphane Lissner, Music Director Daniel Barenboim, the Chorus Director, the Ballet Director and the head of PR and other top administrators (a total of 11 people) have decided to voluntarily cut their pay by 10% to help Scala in this complicated year.

Also, the board extended Lissner's contract yesterday -- he will stay on until 2017.

Breaking: Netrebko Pulls Out Of Scala's "Manon"

Teatro alla Scala official statement:

Due to health reasons, Anna Netrebko has withdrawn from the performances of Massenet's Manon.

The role of Manon Lescaut will be sung by Ermonela Jaho in all the performances.

 

 

 

 

Opera Chic & Grazia.it: Peter Grimes at Teatro alla Scala

Were you lucky enough to be there last Saturday night? OC was. Between Robin Ticciati's shimmery spider webs, John Graham-Hall's grounded lyricism and Richard Jones' dynamic panoramas, La Scala cranked out a Peter Grimes hit. Read all about it here, in Italian, on Grazia.it. (Photos Teatro alla Scala & Brescia and Amisano)

La Scala's 2012-13 First Look: Verdi Wagner Love

Ready the antacids for opera's heavy hitters. In commemoration of the Verdi/Wagner bicentennials in 2013, La Scala dedicates next season almost exclusively to the Italian and German composing duo.

Wagner hits with productions of Lohengrin (which will open the season this December 7 with Barenboim in Guth's production with Kaufmann/Harteros/Pape), Der fliegende Holländer, Götterdämmerung, Das Rheingold, Die Walküre and Siegfried.

Verdi takes stage with Falstaff, Nabucco, Macbeth, Oberto, Un ballo, Don Carlo and Aida.

The exceptions are Alexander Raskatov's A Dog's Heart and Rossini's La Scala di Seta.

Next year's season opener will be Verdi's Travaita with Gatti on the podium.

Full name dropping season here, many casting details still TBA in this teaser, of sorts.

Scala Strike March 31st: L’altra metà del cielo

(Above: Beatrice Carbone and Antonino Sutera, credit Marco Brescia and Teatro alla Scala)

Organized by Segreteria Territoriale and trade union RSA SLC-CGIL, La Scala's opening night of ballet L’altra metà del cielo has been cancelled. The Martha Clarke-choreographed work is set to the music of Vasco Rossi.

Opera Chic & Grazia.it: Die Frau Ohne Schatten

(Credit: Monika Rittenshaus)

Opera Chic took in the opening night of Claus Guth's Teatro alla Scala premiere of Strauss' Die Frau Ohne Schatten and was blown away by its powerful ensemble (starring Emily Magee, Michaela Schuster and Falk Struckmann), nuanced conducting (Marc Albrecht) and Guth's symbol-heavy (but at times too heavy) production. Read the review here, in Italian.

 

Someone Didn't Like La Scala's Aida! (Production Team Aside)

Italy's fiercely-feared opera critic, Paolo Isotta of Corriere della Sera, trashed the Barenboim-anointed young conductor, Omer Wellber, and most of the singers of La Scala's "new" Aida in the culture pages today.

He waxed poetic about the sets/costumes of the late Lila De Nobili, whose last work he saw in 1973 in Visconti's direction for Manon Lescaut at the Spoleto Festival, and then about Zeffirelli's 1963 production that La Scala rolled-out of its archives for last week's premiere.

In the review, he spells Omer Wellber's last name as "Wellberg" (Isotta literally gives no f**k!) and says that if he was a musician in the orchestra, he'd refuse to play for "Wellberg", too (opening night brought an orchestra member into the lobby during the second intermission on defense). Isotta found Wellberg's Verdi "confused" and said that the singers, aside from Marianne Cornetti as Amernis, were tragic.

La Scala Super News for 2013, Starring Verdi

It's a Verdi blockbuster for 2013 that will unveil new productions of Traviata, Falstaff, Nabucco, Oberto, Macbeth, and Un ballo in maschera at Teatro alla Scala.

The sexxxtet of new Verdi productions will usher-in the Italian composer's 200th birth year anniversary, chased by two reprisals -- Don Carlos and Aida -- which was announced today by Scala GM Lissner.

Traviata will open the season on December 7, 2013 and will be conducted by Daniele Gatti (directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov). For the record, this year we have Wagner's Lohengrin conducted by Barenboim, directed by Claus Guth with Kaufmann and Pape. December 7, 2014 will open with Beethoven's Fidelio, conducted by Barenboim.

Falstaff is Carsen's production wtih Covent Garden to be conducted by Harding.

Nabucco will be conducted by Luisotti in Daniele Abbado's production.

Oberto is from the direction of Mario Martone (who did our Cav/Pag). Martone will also do a production of Trovatore in 2014 and a Traviata in 2015.

Macbeth is under the direction of Giorgio Barberio Corsetti and will be conducted by Gergiev.

Ballo will be directed by Damiano Michieletto (who we just interviewed for Stasera Esco) and conducted by Daniele Rustioni.

 

La Scala Axes Ballerina who Spoke out on Eating Disorders

(Photograph: Marco Brescia/La Scala)

She shared her story with The Observer in December 2011 and stated that anorexia and bulima runs rampant among the ballerinas at Teatro alla Scala's ballet corps.

Now she's been axed from the company who states that she damages their image.

Thirty-three year old Italian ballerina, Mariafrancesca Garritano, told the Observer that one in five ballerinas was anorexic and unable to conceive. She also said:

"The chance of getting fired has crossed my mind, but I love La Scala, I care about it, and that's why I really hope things can change."

Tough Year Ahead for Teatro alla Scala

Colleen Barry at the AP reports from the press conference that Lissner MC'd at Teatro alla Scala yesterday morning, where he stated that 2012 will be a tough year. Despite an increase in attendance, La Scala expects a dip in public and private funding this year while running on a budget of 110 million euro. Milan's opera house has been finishing mainly in the black since Lissner's been GM since 2005.

Nice to see the stats on Ed Gardner's insanely-excellent Death in Venice from last March:

The Milan opera house hit its all-time record box office for a single performance: euro281,154 ($365,584) for "Death in Venice" on March 19, [2011]. The nightly box office usually runs around euro250,000, depending on the performance.

Maybe it's Gardner's ~RPattz Effect~ that brought the Twilight fans to La Scala. 

Opera Chic for Opera Now: Don Giovanni Recap

(Don Giovanni at Teatro alla Scala, credit Brescia e Amisano)

Opera Chic reviewed La Scala's Mozart season opener Don Giovanni in Robert Carsen's new production for Opera Now. A pared-down online abstract of a forthcoming print review can be found on Opera Now's website. You'll have to shell-out some LSD //librae, solidi, denarii// to read the longer, juicier, girth-ier print review when the January 2012 edition of Opera Now hits the newsstands!

Barenboim and Carsen Address the Don Giovanni H8rs

 

After a mixed reception of Robert Carsen's new La Scala season-opening production of Don Giovanni, conducted by an unsteady Daniel Barenboim, the two collaborators are defending their art against Milanese detractors.

CarsenBoim took aim at the smattering of boos heard during the 10-minute final curtain call that followed Carsen's rewritten coup de théâtre Don Giovanni finale -- the remainder of the cast including Bryn Terfel, Peter Mattei and Anna Netrebko were roundly applauded.

Rome's daily La Repubblica went backstage on Sant'Ambrogio to gauge Barenboim's reaction, particularly regarding a brazen loggionisti who shouted "troppo lento" (too slow) when the new Music Director took the podium at the beginning of the second act. Barenboim said:

"These protests happen in Italy but also in Germany. I'm liberal and think that everyone has the right to express their own opinions. But don't come into the theater and scream. If you eat a bad meal at a restaurant, you don't go into the kitchen and scream at the chef because the food was bad: maybe just give a smaller tip and don't go back to that restaurant."

These sorts of provocations aren't worthy of acknowledging, said Barenboim, who hasn't been shy in he past when confronting his audiences. OC was at a concert in 2007 at La Scala where the pugnacious Barenboim had a Sergio Leone spaghetti western staredown with a camera-wielding ticket holder. He won, of course. Fastest gun in the West(ern Europe).

We were also at La Scala in February 2009 when Barenboim garnered his very first Il Piermarini booing, so his skin is thicker at this point. The gun-slinging conductor then spoke to La Repubblica ironically about the "troppo lento" heckler:

"If I had really wanted to, I would have told that gentlemen [in the loggione]: 'Well now you can get the heck outta here because the second act won't be any quicker.'"

Robert Carsen, the Canadian director who gave us the OJ verdict version of Don Giovanni, said that he didn't hear any booing for him at opening night. Haaaaa nice. He defended his Don, too:

"I wanted to reveal the personality of the libertine and show him like a mirror of what the other characters had within themselves, his pure energy of the good and the bad as being pulled by others."

Regardless of the booing, wieners for the h8rs. For La Scala, it's a success: opening night pulled in an 8% increase in profit (2,390,000 euro) from last year's frankly unmemorable Die Walkure (reports here and here and here). Next year opens with Wagner's Lohengrin stamped by Claus Guth with Anja Harteros, Rene Pape and Jonas Kaufmann.

Don Giovanni News Round Up From Italy

We've got you covered with Italy's big three newspapers -- Il Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica, and La Stampa -- for La Scala's season opening Sant'Ambrogio Don Giovanni.

Headlines mostly addressed Milan's latest turn for opening night sobriety/austerity, the fact that Monti and Napolitano were there to support the arts, an overall victory for Barenboim/Carsen and the verb "seduce".

Milan's Corriere della Sera ran front-page coverage of a Don Giovanna that "conquered la Scala". 

"Twelve minutes of applause for a successful Don Giovanni" continued Corriere's coverage. Articles covered everything from Carsen's re-write of the Don Giovanni parable to a new austerity, equally evident in guest wardrobes.

HBIC (head byotch in charge) Marta Marzotto chatted with Roberto Bolle in the foyer.

Milan seduced by Don Giovanni. Since an opera-hating Berlusconi no longer rules, it's the first time since 2004 that the President of the Italian Republic Giorgio Napolitano and Milan's Prime Minister (now Mario Monti) were at the theater together. (Berlusca's one and only appearance at La Scala's opening night during 17-years for the re-opening of the theater after renovations).

Don Giovanni conquers la Scala "Stupendous Opera, Like Always: Applause and some Booing from the Loggione"

Close-up of bottom panel.

A round-up of all the other places that Don Giovanni had been transmitted during la prima, including a huge screen in Galleria Emanuele Vittorio II. 

And now for Corriere della Sera's special La Scala insert:

Now to Rome's La Repubblica:

"Don Giovanni Seduces La Scala but the Real Star is Napolitano: ten minutes of applause, outside there were protests: an egg thrown at Monti's car."

And finally, here's Torino's La Stampa:

 

 

Don Giovanni Scala Teaser

While we're waiting for some intrepid internaut to upload last night's RAI5 transmission, here's a few clips of Annuschka and cast.

Don Giovanni @ La Scala for Sant'Ambrogio

(Corriere della Sera's sketch)

On the eve of Sant'Ambrogio, the December 7th feast day of Milan's patron saint, the city prepares to launch Teatro alla Scala's 2011/12 season with a new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni. The Wednesday night premiere was given to Canadian opera director Robert Carsen, who will also bow a new Les contes d'Hoffmann in mid-January 2012 for il Piermarini (for the record, we've also got two Luc Bondy productions this season -- Tosca with Luisotti in April 2012 and a new Rigoletto with Dudamel in November 2012). Paid.

DonG's one of the most buzzed about season openers in recent years for its star power, which had been dimmed during a deluge of Wagner and Verdi (and Bizet) with idiosyncratic casting. And c'mon, it's the f*cking Don. Mozart Da Ponte! We've got new MD Barenboim on the podium, Peter Mattei as the Don, Bryn Terfel as Leporello, Barbara Frittoli as Donna Elvira, Annuschka as Donna Anna, Giuseppe Filianoti as Don Ottavio and Kwangchul Youn as Il Commendatore.

Every Italian news agency and their mothers have been publishing photos from various rehearsals and the final dress on December 4.

FOTO FEVER! PHOTO PHEVER!

Corriere's special section is here, with a huge photo show here (via Pierluigi Panza's recap here).

Il Sole 24 Ore has a photo show of 14 photos here.

La Repubblica's photo show is here, with a special section here. 

If you weren't one of the lucky VIPs to score a median-1,440 euro ticket, you have a few options:

Rai's boasting ten telecameras and sixty microphones to capture the December 7 performance which will be fed to Rai5 and Radio3. In Europe, it'll be seen on ARTE and ZDF. In Russia, on TV Kultura, and in the USA, it's accessible in movie theaters through Emerging Pictures. Rai5 will play a repeat on Sunday, December 11 at 9:30am.

There's also be a jumbotron in Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and a handful of Italian cinemas.

For Italian Sky satellite subscribers, opening night will be transmitted on a delayed feed on Classica (channel 728) starting at 8:50 with a 20 minute pre-show. Classica's also offering a free trial to non-subscribers from December 7-14.

Raymonda, All Made Up, Cheers to Shiseido

(Image: Marco Brescia)

Official Teatro alla Scala partner Shiseido, entering its second year as the first beauty company in the theater's history to share the unique role, was on make-up duty for the massive ballet corps during the run of grand ballet Raymonda, which closed last night at Milan's opera house.

OC was at opening night (along wiht Carla Fracci, review on Grazia.it's Stasera Esco here) for the revival of the late-19th century masterpiece and was mesmerized by the meticulous costumes (more than 500), razor-sharp ballet skills, and grand pageantry.

Shiseido's make-up team dipped into the original sketches extracted from the library archives at Harvard and the theater library in St. Petersburg that were used for the inaugural 1898 production. Inspiration was based on Russia's Imperial period at the end of the 19th century as well as strong female figures: Oscar Wilde's Salome, Mata Hari, the women in Toulouse-Lautrec's paintings, and Laura Antonelli in Visconti's L'innocente.

The look was about natural skin and strong black brows and eyes, accentuated by a Shiseido cream eye shadow called Black Caviar. As if make-up wasn't delicious enough, Shiseido dares us to eat its Black Caviar with a dollop of crème fraîche.

(Backstage Shiseido at Raymonda Teatro alla Scala -- Eris Nezha and Marta Romanga -- Luca Chiaudano/Photomovie)

(Backstage Shiseido at Raymonda Teatro alla Scala -- Eris Nezha and Marta Romanga -- Luca Chiaudano/Photomovie)

(Image: Marco Brescia)

Opera Chic and Grazia.it: Majestic Raymonda at Teatro alla Scala

Opera Chic's latest piece for her Stasera Esco column on Grazia.it is up! OC had the pleasure of taking-in Raymonda at Teatro alla Scala, the 1898 classical ballet masterpiece painstakingly revised at the Milan theater showing month.

 

Opera Chic & Grazia.it: Juan Diego Flórez Conquers Teatro alla Scala (Again!)

Last Sunday, Juan Diego Flórez made his triumphant recital return to the Teatro alla Scala stage, absent as of almost four years, and OC of course was there.

Read the recap of the recital in her Grazia.it column, Stasera Esco, in Italian.

And if your Italian $kill$ are lacking,  you know the drill.

Come One, Come All (Well, Only if You're Under 30 and in Milan)

La Scala opens its doors this Sunday, September 18 to members of its under-30 program (from 6-years-old to 30-years-old). Free tours will run from 10am until 4:30pm, gathering every 10 minutes and lasting about 40 minutes. Tours will show groups of 30 people around the foyer, the orchestra seats and the royal box. Finally a chance to wear cut-off denim shorts and flip-flops to La Scala!

Better Than Möst: 10-Minute-Long Ovation At Scala For Welser-Möst "Fidelio" With Stemme, Seiffert

Earlier tonight at la Scala, the performance -- in concert form -- of "Fidelio": the Wiener Staatsoper conducted by Franz Welser-Möst and the cast (led by Peter Seiffert and Nina Stemme), enjoyed a massive, 10-minute ovation by the audience.

Scala Strike Cancels Welser-Moest "Fidelio"

***update***

Strike revoked

***

CGIL and UIL unions at Scala have declared a strike for 9/9: the one-shot "Fidelio" concert conducted by Franz Welser-Moest (with Markus Marquardt, Albert Dohmen, Peter Seiffert and Nina Stemme) will not happen.

 

 

 

Opera Chic & Grazia.it: Two Post in One

For this week's Stasera Esco column on Grazia.it, Opera Chic looks ahead to Italy's early fall classical music festivals and picks three of her favorites for "Aspettando l'autunno: Tre Imperdibili Festival di Musica Classica".

Don't worry -- next week we'll jump right back to the present!

But now we need to hop back into the DeLorean and go back in time since we forgot to mention last week's piece for Stasera Esco, "Shiseido Cura la Bellezza dell'opera". We grilled Japanese beauty giant Shiseido on their evolving partnership with Teatro alla Scala as the first beauty company in the theater's history to have the honor.

You can see more of the cool photos (and the piece) here! Tomorrow we'll drop in the English translations behind the cut, but in the meantime you can check out the pieces (in Italian) on Grazia.it. 

Photos credit Shiseido, Luca Chiaudano and Photomovie.

Opera Chic and Grazia.it: Lawrence Brownlee and the Kids of Accademia del Teatro alla Scala for L'Italiana in Algeri

(Above: Ponnelle's sweet L'italiana in Algeri at Teatro alla Scala, Credits: Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala)

Opera Chic's latest piece for Grazia.it is a review of the opening night of Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's 1970s-era endearing production of Rossini's L'italiana in Algeri at La Scala with the kids of Accademia del Teatro alla Scala.

Lawrence Brownlee K.O.'d as Lindoro so OC caught up with the American tenor for a small interview -- all of which you can read about here.

Opera Chic and Grazia Magazine: The Maestro's Magic Moves

(Above:Nicola Luisotti shows his emo side. Photo: Brescia and Amisano, Teatro alla Scala)

Opera Chic's latest piece for her weekly column on Grazia.it is up! Last Sunday night at Teatro alla Scala OC dipped in to hear Filarmonica della Scala and Italian maestro Nicola Luisotti for a program of Russian emo hits of Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev, featuring Georgian pianist Alexander Toradze. 

Go read about it here!