2023-12-06 21:57:11
Wednesday, December 6, 2023, 8:57 p.m.
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The opening this Thursday of the season at La Scala in Milan, the most important opera house in the world, has a Spanish flavor. And not only because the work chosen for the poster for the representation of the day of Saint Ambrose, patron saint of the Italian city, is Giuseppe Verdi’s ‘Don Carlos’, in which the atmosphere of Spain during the Golden Age is evoked. The stage direction is carried out by Lluís Pasqual, while Daniel Bianco has been in charge of the sets and Nuria Castejón of the choreographies. In this ‘premium’ of La Scala in which there will be notable absences in the Royal Box, since the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, will not attend, nor will the Head of Government, Giorgia Meloni, will return to lead the Riccardo orchestra Chailly as musical director.
Among the performers, the Russian soprano Anna Netrebko stands out, one of the great current divas of the world of opera and who is participating in her sixth season opening at the Milanese theater. Netrebko will provide the voice of Princess Isabel de Valois, while Philip II will be played by the Italian bass Michele Pertusi and the tenor Francesco Meli will be Prince Charles. The main cast of the ‘cousin’ is completed by the South Korean bass Jongmin Park in the role of the Grand Inquisitor, replacing the Estonian Aun Anger, who was absent at the last minute due to illness.
On the stage of La Scala, during the performance of Verdi’s opera, you will breathe “a smell of church,” as explained by Pasqual, who found the inspiration to set the work during a visit to Toro. He was fascinated by a large alabaster window from the collegiate church of Santa María la Mayor in the Castilian city and decided to recover that material for the ‘Don Carlos’. “When there was no glass, alabaster was a material that was used in religious and civil architecture,” explained the Catalan director. For this reason the scene will be dominated by a large alabaster tower. At the same time, Pasqual has tried to give the entire performance “an imprint of Shakespeare, of whom Verdi “was a great admirer.” In that air of “Shakespearean tragedy” that he has constructed, one perceives the risks of nationalism and religion, which marked Spain in the 16th century. Both elements continue today “to separate us from the knowledge of others,” said Pasqual, recalling the “results that these two original sins produce in the world.”
The start of the season at La Scala in Milan coincided with magnificent news for the world of opera: the proclamation by UNESCO of Italian lyrical singing as Intangible Heritage of Humanity. The recognition came through acclamation by the representatives of the member countries of the committee of this UN body in charge of culture, in a meeting held this Wednesday in Botswana. The declaration is the result of the campaign promoted for years by the association of artists of the sector in Italy and represents an undoubted boost to one of the great artistic excellences of the country.
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