LaScalaTV Goes Free from 1 September
Teatro alla Scala’s streaming platform is dropping its paywall. From Tuesday 1 September, every title in the LaScalaTV catalogue will be available to watch for free, following simple registration – a shift made possible by continued support from the platform’s Principal Sponsor, Intesa Sanpaolo.
Launched in 2023, LaScalaTV was built around nine remotely operated cameras installed in the auditorium, capable of filming opera, ballet and concerts live, and the resulting videos have been exceptional – far superior to those produced by the state broadcaster, who go in for directors’ tricks. This is especially irritating in dance, where close-ups of feet or overhead shots of rotating tutus seem designed to disturb the viewer. La ScalaTV has plenty of cameras to cover every angle of a performance, but is less jittery with the change of camera button.
In three years the platform has assembled a substantial library: 31 recent opera productions, 13 older recordings, 8 ballets, 26 concerts, and a range of educational and behind-the-scenes content. Some of the historic recordings actually come from the archive of Italian broadcaster Rai, with which La Scala has maintained a production partnership for half a century.
The move to free access is part of a wider strategy at the Fondazione Teatro alla Scala to broaden the ways audiences can discover and engage with its work. LaScalaTV now joins the theatre’s existing outreach efforts – the Servizio Promozione Culturale, which brings in more than 100,000 spectators a year at reduced prices, and the Spazio Scala programme, which offers over 100 free talks and introductory events. All of it feeds into Article 2 of the Fondazione’s statute, which commits La Scala to promoting musical education across the community.
What’s in the archive
The catalogue spans decades of La Scala’s conducting history, from recordings by Claudio Abbado and Riccardo Muti to more recent work by Riccardo Chailly, Myung-Whun Chung, Fabio Luisi, and Speranza Scappucci. Productions are by directors including Robert Carsen, Davide Livermore, Mario Martone, David McVicar, Giorgio Strehler, Graham Vick, Deborah Warner and Franco Zeffirelli.
The platform also includes shows for younger audiences, and educational content.
New additions and what’s coming
The catalogue expands on 1 September with two new titles: Florian Leopold Gassmann’s L’opera seria, a satire of theatrical conventions staged in 2025 by Laurent Pelly with Christophe Rousset conducting and starring Julie Fuchs, Mattia Olivieri, Pietro Spagnoli and Giovanni Sala; and Mozart’s Requiem, conducted by Thomas Guggeis in 2024.
Further releases will include two major recent milestones: Schönberg’s Gurre-Lieder, conducted by Riccardo Chailly in 2024 with soloists Camilla Nylund, Andreas Schager, Okka von der Damerau, Michael Volle and Norbert Ernst; and Götterdämmerung which completes La Scala’s Ring Cycle on the platform — the production with which the theatre marked the 150th anniversary of the complete Ring’s premiere in Bayreuth this year. Simone Young conducts Sir David McVicar’s staging, with a cast including Camilla Nylund, Klaus Florian Vogt, Günther Groissböck and Nina Stemme.
Live streaming
Upcoming live streams include a new production of L’elisir d’amore in September with talent from La Scala’s Academy conducted by Marco Alibrando and directed by Maria Mauti. Also streaming: Daniele Rustioni conducting a programme of Brahms and Schumann this September, and, in November, Gounod’s Faust in Johannes Erath’s new production, again under Rustioni, starring Vittorio Grigolo, Marina Rebeka and Alex Esposito.
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 Italian ballerina 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.
