Even before going on stage, a lady Macbeth from Shostakovic’s Mcesk district already sets a record, which today inaugurates the opera season at La Scala in Milan. In fact, it had the highest gross ever recorded for a December 7th premiere: 2 million 800 thousand euros, much more than the two million 580 thousand euros of Forza del Destino last year. This is due not so much to the 3200 euro tickets, the same price as last year, but to the contribution of the sponsors, even if the superintendent of the Scala Fortunato Ortombina today, at the ‘birthday’ of Agis, underlined that the theater is “at the forefront” in its role as a “public service”.
And he demonstrated it with a choice that for Riccardo Chailly – on his twelfth December 7th, his last as musical director of the theater – “is not an act of courage but a necessary act”, that is, inaugurating for the first time with a work by Shostakovic, the fiftieth anniversary of whose death occurs.
A ‘new’ work (the debut was in 1934), all blood and sound which infuriated Stalin and is presented here directed by Vasily Barkhatov, without discounting scenes of sex and violence. So much so that the tablets from which to read the subtitles during the show warn – an alert that has never appeared at the Piermarini until now – of the presence of violent scenes. The young people at the under-30 preview liked it so much that they applauded for over nine minutes. Older viewers of the premiere will see it.
Certainly the Premiere is not only a cultural event, but also a political and social one: a mirror of what is happening. From here came the request for a second Mattarella the year before he was reconfirmed Head of State and two years ago a cry from the gallery ‘Long live anti-fascist Italy’ which caused people to talk for days. It is no coincidence that outside the theater there will be proPal demonstrators and also the CGIL, which has made an appeal to the world of culture to take to the streets against the government’s interference in artistic choices, underfunding and the risks of the new entertainment code.
Inside there is only one minister, that of Culture Alessandro Giuli. In place of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, the senator for life Liliana Segre will sit in the central box for the third consecutive year with on her right the president of the Constitutional Court Giovanni Amoroso, the mayor Giuseppe Sala, who is president of the theatre, the governor Attilio Fontana and the US undersecretary of state Sara Rogers.
Among the VIPs present were Mahmood, Achille Lauro and Pierfrancesco Favino, Vittorio Brumotti and the president of the Chamber of Fashion Carlo Capasa. And again Mario Calabresi, the director of Chora Media who will continue the collaboration with the Teatro alla Scala in 2026 with the podcast La vertigine, and who persistent rumors give as possible candidates for mayor of the centre-left, the director Damiano Michieletto, who is curating the inaugural ceremony of the Olympics and has the film based on Tiziano Scarpa’s Stabat Mater coming out. As always, the theatre’s principal dancers will be present, including the star Nicoletta Manni. And all the members of the board of directors will be there, including Barbara Berlusconi. For her it is not a debut: in 2011 she had already come to the inauguration of the season with Don Giovanni, while the following year, for Lohengrin, she took part in the Under 30 preview.
In addition to those who are there, the Premiere on December 7th this year will also be dedicated to those who are missing, such as Ornella Vanoni, who came to December 7th for the last time in 2023, and above all Giorgio Armani, who has always been a discreet but constant presence in the Milanese theater and will continue to be so through the clothes worn for the occasion.