Yesterday was the first live stream from LaScalaTv (of I Vespri siciliani with a superb cast) and other operas, ballets, concerts and recitals will follow.
La Scala has been building up a catalogue of original content, recorded over the past two years, in addition to the live performances that will follow.
LaScalaTv wants to open a new channel of communication aimed not just at fans who already know and frequent the theatre, who will have the opportunity to revisit performances or catch up on those they have missed, but also for a global audience. There is also content aimed at children and school audiences.
Sensibly, the theatre has chosen to be very competitive with its pricing so few will be dissuaded by the cost of the service. Registration is free, and the content is pay-on-demand, so there are no subscription fees. The content is available in high definition and ultra-HD. A live opera or ballet costs €9,90 in HD and €11,90 in UHD, whereas pre-recorded content from the catalogue costs €4,90 in HD and €6,90 in UHD.
Concerts and recitals and programmes for children are €4,90 in HD and 6,90 in UHD for the live streams and €2,90 in HD and €4,90 in UHD for the videos in the catalogue.
After a programme has been ‘rented' it will be available for the following 72 hours. Live streams will be available to rent for a week after the original transmission.
The platform is currently available in English and Italian.
Live Streamed Content
The LIVE STREAM programming for the first part of 2023, until the summer, is as follows:
Operas
14 February 2023 at 19:00
I Vespri siciliani
Music by Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto by Eugène Scribe and Charles Duveyrier
Conductor Fabio Luisi
Director, set and costume designer Hugo de Ana
Cast: Marina Rebeka, Piero Pretti, Luca Micheletti, Simon Lim.
14 March 2023 at 20:00
La bohème
Music by Giacomo Puccini
Libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica
Conductor Eun Sun Kim
Dircteor Franco Zeffirelli
Cast: Marina Rebeka, Freddie De Tommaso, Irina Lungu, Luca Micheletti.
24 March 2023 at 19:30
Les contes d'Hoffmann
Music by Jacques Offenbach
Libretto by Jules Barbier
Conductor Frédéric Chaslin
Director Davide Livermore
Cast: Eleonora Buratto, Vittorio Grigolo, Ildar Abdrazakov, Marina Viotti.
21 April 2023 at 20:00
Li zite ngalera
Music by Leonardo Vinci
Libretto by Bernardo Saddumene
Conductor Andrea Marcon
Director Leo Muscato
Cast: Francesca Pia Vitale, Chiara Amarù, Raffaele Pe, Filippo Mineccia.
Ballets
1 March 2023 at 20:00
Le Corsaire
Music by Adolphe Adam
Choreography by Manuel Legris from Petipa and others.
Conductor Valery Ovsyanikov
28 June 2023 at 20:00
Romeo e Giulietta
Music by Sergej Prokofiev
Choreography by Kenneth MacMillan
Conductor Timur Zangiev
Concerts:
18 February 2023 at 20:00
Filarmonica della Scala, conductor Daniel Barenboim, Mozart Symphonies n.39, 40 e 41
10 March 2023 at 20:00
Filarmonica della Scala, conductor Lorenzo Viotti, violin Marc Bouchkov, Haydn Symphony n.104; Korngold Concerto for Violin; Strauss Tod und Verklärung
28 April 2023 at 20:00
Filarmonica della Scala, conductor Timur Zangiev, Tchaikovsky Symphony n.5; Shostakovich Symphony n.5
11 May 2023 at 11:00
Chorus of Teatro alla Scala, maestro Alberto Malazzi
Rossini: Petite Messe Solennelle
20 May 2023 at 20:00
Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro alla Scala, Chorus of Teatro la Fenice, Children's chorus of the Teatro alla Scala Academy.
Conductor Riccardo Chailly.
Solists Marina Rebeka, Krassimira Stoyanova, Regula Mühlemann, Klaus Florian Vogt
Mahler Symphony n.8
11 June 2023 at 20:00
Luca Salsi, piano Nelson Calzi: Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi
Recorded Content
LaScalaTv offers a selection of operas, ballets and concerts on demand, which will be enriched in the coming months with older recordings of historical importance, other performances recorded in recent years, as well as the new titles broadcast live, which will be republished after post-production.
Operas
La Calisto
Conductor Christophe Rousset. Directed by David McVicar. With Chen Reiss, Olga Bezsmertna, Christophe Dumaux, Markus Werba. Recorded in November 2021.
Thaïs
Conductor Lorenzo Viotti. Directed by Olivier Py. With Marina Rebeka, Lucas Meachem, Giovanni Sala, Caterina Sala. Recorded in February 2022.
From 17 February:
I Capuleti e i Montecchi
Conductor Speranza Scappucci. Directed by Adrian Noble. With Lisette Oropesa, Marianne Crebassa, Jinxu Xiaou, Michele Pertusi. Recorded in January 2022.
Ballets
Madina
Music by Fabio Vacchi, choreography by Mauro Bigonzetti, libretto by Emmanuelle de Villepin. Conductor Michele Gamba.
With Antonella Albano, Roberto Bolle, Martina Arduino, Gioacchino Starace, Gabriele Corrado, Fabrizio Falco. Recorded in October 2021 (First performance, commissioned by Teatro alla Scala and SIAE).
Sylvia
Dramaturgy and libretto by Manuel Legris and Jean-François Vazelle, choreography by Manuel Legris. Conductor Kevin Rhodes.
With Martina Arduino, Nicola Del Freo, Christian Fagetti, Mattia Semperboni, Maria Celeste Losa, Gabriele Corrado. Recorded in May 2022, co-production with Wiener Staatsballet.
Giselle
Choreography by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot revived by Yvette Chauviré. Conductor Valery Ovsyanikov.
With Nicoletta Manni, Timofej Andrijashenko, Marco Agostino, Maria Celeste Losa, Agnese Di Clemente, Mattia Semperboni. Recorded in July 2022.
Concerts
Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro alla Scala, Children's Chorus of the Accademia Teatro alla Scala. Conductor Riccardo Chailly, Chorus Master Alberto Malazzi. With Anna Larsson and Erin Morley. Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection”. Recorded in April 2022.
Performances for children
From 24 February:
Lalla & Skali and the enchanted mask – With the Ensemble Barocco of the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala and actors Matteo Sala and Mirjam Schiavello. Recorded in February 2022.
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.
I have registered. I shall go to the ball, after all! (Thanks for informing us, Graham.)