Riccardo Chailly

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To open its 2019-2020 season, La Scala in Milan has chosen Tosca, in a new production directed by Davide Livermore. The production is part of the rediscovery of Italian opera led by Riccardo Chailly, the conductor of the production and music director of La Scala. He has chosen the original version of Tosca, as created by Puccini in Rome in January 1900, which included eight "additional musical inserts" that were removed from the work after its second performance in Turin in February 1900 and will now be rediscovered for the first time on December 7 at La Scala.

Claude D'Anna's film of Verdi's Macbeth is a gloomy affair, stressing the descent into madness of the principal villains. It's acted by the singers of the Decca recording of the opera (with two substitutions of actors standing in for singers) and the lip-synching is generally unobtrusive. The musical performance is superb, conducted by Riccardo Chailly with admirable fire, and sung by some of the leading lights of the opera stages of the 1980s. Shirley Verrett virtually owned the role of Lady Macbeth at the time, and she delivers a terrific performance, the voice equal to the role's wide register leaps and it's suffused with emotion, whether urging her husband on to murder or maddened by guilt in the Sleepwalking Scene. Leo Nucci's resonant Macbeth may lack the ultimate in vocal color and steadiness (his last notes of the great aria Pietà, rispetto, amore are wobbly) but he compensates with intensity in both singing and acting.

Legendary opera house, La Scala is more than just a stage— it’s a dream factory. And this year, over the course of four intensive months, 900 people will work relentlessly to incarnate Verdi’s opera masterpiece, ‘‘The Force of Destiny”. Under the masterful eyes of director Léo Muscato, we will follow set designer Federica Parolini, as her sketches evolve into towering architectural marvels crafted by dedicated artisans. In the costume workshop, Silvia Peroni and her team weave magic with fabric and thread through their expert hands. Then, a stellar international cast of virtuosos arrives in Milan, ready to fill La Scala’s hallowed halls with their soaring voices. But with the clock ticking, and expectations going through the roof, tensions unfold like an opera of its own. As Milan holds its breath for the legendary Prima on the 7th of December, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Will they be ready in time for curtain rise?

Rigoletto is a jester in the court of the Duke of Mantua. He has a hunch-back and he's rather unattractive, but he's good at his job of humiliating the courtiers for the amusement of the Duke. The courtiers, of course, are not amused. The Duke is a ladies man who feels his life would be meaningless if he couldn't chase every skirt he sees. In fact, we learn as the opera begins that he's recently been noticing a young lady every Sunday on her way to church, and he's vowed to have his way with her. What nobody realizes is that the girl is the jester's beloved daughter, Gilda, and that Gilda has seen the Duke every Sunday and is smitten with him. Suddenly Count Monterone appears at court, furious that the Duke has seduced his daughter. Rigoletto ridicules Monterone, the Duke laughs, and Monterone casts an awful curse on both of them. Later, the courtiers discover that Rigoletto is secretly living with Gilda...

First staged at the Teatro La Fenice in 1846, Verdi’s ninth opera, Attila, returns to the stage of La Scala on December 7th. Following the inauguration of the 2015-2016 Season with Giovanna d’Arco and in anticipation of Macbeth, with Attila Musical Director Riccardo Chailly continues his study of Verdi’s early works, renewing a successful collaboration with creative director Davide Livermore that began with his acclaimed production of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale for La Scala. In this complex opera Verdi experiments with fresh perspectives, featuring spectacular historical settings, introspective angles and moral uncertainties. Attila demands of its performers not only passion and confidence, but also the ability to find subtle accents and psychological nuances.

This production of Giuseppi Verdi's opera based on Macbeth, the famed play by William Shakespeare, is a musical succès d'estime but falls short in the cinematic arena. Shirley Verrett stars as the murderous and ambitious Lady Macbeth, Leo Nucci co-stars as her similarly ambitious but slightly more scrupulous husband, who has the good grace to feel some horror at his deeds before he does them. The entire opera was filmed inside a Belgian castle, and some of the smaller parts are obviously lip-synched to pre-recorded music.

The 200-year-old story of Milan’s illustrious opera house, La Scala, home to the great tenor Placido Domingo, conductor Arturo Toscanini and acclaimed soprano Maria Callas.

As per tradition, the 2021/22 season opened in December at La Scala in Milan, this time with a new production of Giuseppe Verdi's 'Macbeth' directed by Davide Livermore and conducted by Riccardo Chailly. Verdi's Shakespeare drama features a star-studded cast: Anna Netrebko and Luca Salsi embody the regicide Macbeth and his lady.

"Giovanna d'Arco; ossia, la pulzella d'Orléans" is an operatic dramma lirico with a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera. The opera partly reflects the story of Joan of Arc and is based on a play by Friedrich von Schiller, although claimed by the librettist to be "an entirely original Italian drama." If the thought of Anna Netrebko strutting her stuff in a suit of armour and tin hat sets your factor tingling then this is a must. It's an inconsistent opera but has some quite wonderful music along the way. The rest of the cast is good and the production won't offend either. Get it for Ms Netrebko's incredible performance alone.

Conductors Andris Nelsons, Klaus Mäkelä, Riccardo Chailly, and Petr Popelka will take turns conducting the four movements of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. This concert event celebrates the bicentennial of the premiere of Beethoven's masterpiece.

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In Search of Beethoven offers a comprehensive documentary about the life and works of the great composer. Over 65 performances by the world's finest musicians were recorded and 100 interviews conducted in the making of this beautifully crafted film. Eleven interviews are included in the Extras and Six complete movements.

Premiere of the 23/24 season at the Teatro La Scala of Milan, broadcast live. The story of Verdi's opera is based on conflicts in the life of Carlos, Prince of Asturias (1545–1568). Though he was betrothed to Elisabeth of Valois, part of the peace treaty ending the Italian War of 1551–59 between the Houses of Habsburg and Valois demanded that she be married instead to his father Philip II of Spain.

Gioacchino Rossini's sparkling version of the Cinderella story comes live from the Salzburg Festival with Ann Murray and Francisco Araiza as Cinderella and the Prince. Director Michael Hampe envisions La Cenerentola less as a fairy tale and more as a gently satirical comment on the nature of society and the relationship between people. Conductor Riccardo Chailly's masterly display of the Rossini style is visually matched by the opulent and elegant set designs by Mauro Pagano. 162 minutes.

Early recordings of Franco Zeffirelli's 2006 production of Verdi's opera which saw Roberto Alagna's high-profile exit during the second performance. Egypt and Ethiopia are at war. Radames is appointed commander of the Egyptian forces by the King, whose daughter, Amneris, loves Radames. It is in fact Amneris' Ethiopian slave Aida whom Radames loves. Ramades wins the war against the Ethiopians, capturing Aida's father Amonasro in the process. On his return to Egypt he faces a choice between marrying Amneris or betraying his country through his love for Aida.

Riccardo Chailly inaugurates the 2024-2025 Opera Season with a new production of La forza del destino, conducting his ninth Verdi title at La Scala. Leo Muscato will direct yet another cast of extraordinary prestige. A complex opera in terms of dramaturgy, first performed in St. Petersburg in 1862 and debuting in its final form at La Scala in 1869 with the creation of the famous overture, La forza del destino offers some of the most memorable Verdi melodies. It has been absent from the programme since the Verdi centennial in 2001, when it was brought to La Scala by the artists of the Mariinsky Theatre of St. Petersburg; the La Scala Orchestra and Choir have not performed it since 1999.

Andrea Chénier, Umberto Giordano's masterpiece, a title that opens the Piermarini's 2017/2018 opera season, returns to La Scala in Milan after a 32-year absence. A highly anticipated event, not only because of the debut in the role of Magdalena by superstar soprano Anna Netrebko (thus marking her third season opener at La Scala, following 2011's Don Giovanni and 2015's Giovanna d'Arco) but also because of the La Scala debut of Yusif Eyvazov (Mrs. Netrebko's spouse, who has been keeping the Piermarini's gallery apprehensive for months now) and for the new direction signed by Mario Martone, who with Margherita Palli (composer of the sets) return to La Scala's handling of an opera by Umberto Giordano, after the success in May 2016 of their Cena delle Beffe.

Attrazione d'Amore is a touching illustration of the unique relation that has developed between the Conductor Riccardo Chailly and his famous Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Voyage to Cythera navigates through wonderful musical quotes made of performances conducted by Berio, rehearsals, archival documents and interviews featuring Riccardo Chailly and Louis Andriessen.