Claudio Coviello is promoted to primo ballerino at La Scala

21-year-old Claudio Coviello, who famously stepped in at the last minute to replace Ivan Vasiliev, has been named primo ballerino (principal) after yesterday's performance as Albrecht in Giselle.

Born in Potenza, Coviello received his ballet training at the school of the Rome Opera Ballet and was quickly snapped up by the company at Milan's La Scala in 2010.

He was awarded Danza & Danza's Best New Artist in 2011 and promoted to soloist at La Scala just last year.

Two months ago, after having played Quasimodo in Roland Petit's Notre-Dame de Paris for the afternoon mat­inée, he found himself onstage again a couple of hours later to substitute Vasiliev who was injured half an hour before curtain up. Coviello rose to the occasion magnificently, and the groans from the audience when Vasiliev's cancellation was announced soon turned into cheers for the young Coviello.

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.