“I’m happy to present this season, which will be the last one for me.” Manuel Legris, the director of La Scala’s corps de ballet, maybe was not as ‘happy’ as his words suggest. “Surprisingly I haven’t heard anything about my contract, which ends in November 2025. I have made a personal decision – this will be my last season at La Scala as it will be also for Dominique. I am very happy with the work done here with the dancers.”
Dominique Meyer’s contract runs out at the end of February, but Italy’s far-right-led government limited him to one term as it seeks to restore the leadership of landmark cultural institutions to Italians. The theatre’s general manager, Meyer, and Legris have worked together for 15 years, previously in Vienna.
During the presentation of the 2024-25 season, Meyer said, “I would have been happy to continue… A little stability doesn’t hurt.”
The theatre’s new manager will be Fortunato Ortombina, who met Milan’s mayor this week in preparation to step into his new role in September. Ortombina arrives from Venice’s La Fenice theatre and will work alongside Meyer for the first months.
There is a general feeling of sadness among theatre workers and audiences who have generally been happy with the artistic decisions over a period that has been a challenging one with Covid lockdowns. Even with the economic disaster of those years, Meyer is leaving La Scala with €132.7 million in the bank, compared with €109 million in 2018. He took over in March 2020.
Roberto Bolle has already made it known that he would be interested in directing the ballet company, “Leading the ballet would certainly be a great honour and a privilege, and La Scala is also my home, a theatre that I am very attached to. We’ll see,” he said in a recent television interview.
The name of Eleonora Abbagnato, currently director of the ballet company of the Rome Opera, is also being bandied about. Whatever, it seems that Italians only need apply.
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.
The Brit James Bradburne at the end of his contract as head of the Brera gallery in Milan was replaced with an Italian last year. Eike Schmidt has recently been replaced by an Italian as head of the Uffizi in Florence (though he is now at the Capodimonte museum in Naples… Well he is German-Italian) and both have done excellent work. Of course Italians should get those jobs if they are better than other applicants. But…