Maurizio Pollini: 1942-2024 – La Scala mourns one of its most important artists
Teatro alla Scala mourns the passing of Maurizio Pollini, one of the great musicians of our time and a fundamental point of reference in the artistic life of the theatre for over fifty years.
The Intendent, Dominique Meyer, the Music Director Riccardo Chailly, the Orchestra and all the theatre workers are with his wife Marilisa, his son Daniele and the whole family.
A pupil of Carlo Lonati and Carlo Vidusso, and a protagonist of the international concert scene ever since he won the Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 1960 at the age of 18, Pollini was a performer capable of revolutionising the perception of composers such as Chopin, Debussy and Beethoven, and of promoting also modern composers, above all Schönberg, and of also today’s music with tireless dedication. Alongside his greatness as an instrumentalist, his testimony to the very role of music, understood as an essential component of culture and everyday life and as a tool for transforming society, remains fundamental.
From his debut on 11 October 1958 to his last recital on 13 February 2023, Pollini has performed at La Scala 168 times, in addition to encounters with students and his participation in juries and conferences.
Maurizio Pollini at La Scala
After his first concerts conducted by Thomas Schippers and Sergiu Celibidache, the evening of 23 October 1969 marked the beginning of his collaboration with Claudio Abbado, which was destined to become a legend in the performances in Milan, and also in the cultural history of the city. Their common commitment to broaden the repertoire, with particular attention to the second Viennese school and to new music, was combined with an equal commitment to broaden the audience in line with the approach of Paolo Grassi (La Scala’s director), who in those years was developing new policies to involve the entire city in the theatre’s activities.
Also fundamental were collaborations with Riccardo Muti and later with Daniel Barenboim and Riccardo Chailly, but over the decades there were also concerts with Carlo Maria Giulini, Pierre Boulez and Zubin Mehta.
In addition to the relationship built up over the years with La Scala’s musicians, both as Orchestra della Scala and above all with the theatre’s Philharmonic Orchestra, there were appearances with great orchestras such as the Wiener Philharmoniker (with Abbado) and the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester (with Chailly) and numerous ensembles dedicated to today’s music, in particular in the ‘Pollini Cycles’ promoted by Stéphane Lissner: the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Klangforum Wien, the Musikfabrik Köln, the Experimentalstudio SWR.
In the chamber music repertoire, we remember him particularly alongside Salvatore Accardo, Toby Hoffmann, Margaret Batjer and Rocco Filippini.
In Pollini’s uninterrupted presence at La Scala are above all his recitals: the famous cycle of the 32 Beethoven sonatas in 199, and the eagerly awaited annual concert featuring Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Debussy, Schönberg, and Nono. We were expecting him again on 20 October 2024.
A chapel of rest for Maurizio Pollini will be set up in the foyer of La Scala and the public can pay respects between 10 am and 2 pm on Tuesday 26 March.
Maurizio Pollini: Milan, 5 January 1942 – Milan, 23 March 2024
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.
