Prima della Scala: opens with an ovation for the President of the Republic

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All standing, many cheers: a long ovation welcomed the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, giving the there at the opening night of the Opera Season at the Teatro alla Scala, with Modest Musorgsky’s Boris Godunov in its first version (1869) and for the direction, and it is his ninth premiere of Sant’Ambrogio, by maestro Riccardo Chailly. Directed by Kasper Holten while Ildar Abdrazakov is the protagonist.

The president with his daughter Laura at his side was welcomed by the mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, by the Lombard governor Attilio Fontana and by the superintendent Dominique Meyer who commented: “It is a relief” the announcement of the Lombardy Region which, contrary to what announced at the end of November, will not cut the contribution to La Scala for the current year”.

The royal box of this premiere is particularly crowded, given the presence of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen – in whose honor Beethoven’s Ode to Joy was performed immediately after the Mameli Hymn – of the President of the Senate Ignazio La Russa and by the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni.

“You know my position on the subject of the conflict in Ukraine, but I think culture is something else and I think we mustn’t make the mistake of mixing dimensions that are different,” said the prime minister, answering a question about the controversy over the choice of a Russian title to inaugurate the season at Scala. “We are not angry with the Russian people, with Russian history, we are angry with the choices of those who – she added – politically decided to invade a sovereign nation. It’s a different thing, in my opinion it’s right to keep the two dimensions”.

Among the numerous personalities from the world of politics, business and Milanese society, some exponents from the world of cinema stand out this year: the director Luca Guadagnino and the actors Stefano Accorsi, Fabrizio Gifuni and Sonia Bergamasco, the publisher Luca Formenton, the CEO of Adelphi Roberto Colaianni, the Superintendent of the Pinacoteca di Brera James Bradburne, the architects Stefano Boeri, president of the Triennale, Mario Botta and Italo Rota.