La Scala 2016-2017 season to open with Madame Butterfly

(AGI) Milan, 18 May - The 2016-2017 season at La Scala di Milano will bear the stamp of Riccardo Chailly, set to become musical director as of Jan. 1, 2017. Many of the works were first performed at the theatre. There will also be an original collaboration with filmmaker Gabriele Salvatores, 1991 Oscar winner with Mediterraneo, making his debut at the theatre with Rossini's The Thieving Magpie. The curtain will go up on Puccini's Madame Butterfly on Dec. 7, in a version never performed at La Scala since its debut in 1902. The programme includes 15 operas, nine of which are Italian, a format that superintendent Alexander Pereira has announced will continue in the future. Other works by Puccini include Franco Zeffirelli's production of La Boheme. Four Verdi operas, Don Carlos, Falstaff, La Traviata and Nabucco, will be performed, along with Donizetti's Anne Boleyn. The world premiere of Salvatore Sciarrino's Ti Vedo, Ti Sento, Mi Perdo, an opera inspired by the tragic life of Alessandro Stradella, will make up the grand finale. One of the great surprises is the return after 12 years of conductor Riccardo Muti. The last time he performed at La Scala was in 2005 with the Wiener Philharmoniker. "We are delighted to welcome Riccardo Muti back to La Scala, where he was musical director for 19 years, to conduct two concerts with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra," said Mr Pereira. He added that Mr Muti would have preferred to return with the La Scala Theatre Orchestra, but that had not proved feasible. "Riccardo said some time ago, when he presented Toscanini's dinner jacket to the Conservatoire, that he would not return just for one concert," said the superintendent. "I took this in a positive vein. I want Riccardo Muti to have a home in Milan at La Scala." Riccardo Chailly had also said when he arrived that "all the great conductors who have written the story of La Scala must return". (AGI). .