After the triumphant opening of La Scala‘s opera season on 7 December with Dmitri Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, the second performance was interrupted after Maestro Riccardo Chailly fell ill.
This is his final season, after ten years, as the opera house’s Musical Director.
During the first interval, Chailly, 72, had expressed that he was feeling tired, and members of the orchestra had noticed his fatigue. The interval was extended by ten minutes.
Chailly then entered the pit for the 50 minutes of the second part of the opera, but at the second interval, an ambulance was called.
The conductor has suffered from a heart condition for many years. Last February, he did not take part in La Scala Philharmonic‘s tour and was replaced by Lorenzo Viotti, and in 2023, he had to withdraw from the opening concert of the Lucerne Festival due to an operation following a sudden illness.
The idea of substituting him for the final act was put aside because of the complexity of the opera, and ‘out of respect for Maestro Chailly’, and the theatre suspended the performance. While this information was being announced to the audience, Riccardo Chilly was taken to hospital.
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.