Luca Targetti, the Casting Director at La Scala for 13 years from 1997, died shortly after showing symptoms of a coronavirus infection, on 12 March. He was 63. The architect Vittorio Gregotti, responsible for designing the 2000-seater Teatro Arcimboldi, La Scala’s temporary home when it was closed for modernisation in 2002, died this morning after being infected with the … [Read more...] about La Scala loses two collaborators to the coronavirus
obituaries
Mirella Freni dies at 84
Mirella Freni, who would have been 85 on 27 February, has died at her home in Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. She had been fighting an illness for a long while and died surrounded by friends and family. Her coffin will be placed in Modena's Teatro Comunale Luciano Pavarotti on the morning of Wednesday 12 February, and the funeral will be held in the … [Read more...] about Mirella Freni dies at 84
Conductor Nello Santi – who conducted 401 performances at The Met – has died at 88
The conductor Nello Santi has died at 88. He last worked at La Scala in November 2017, when he was 86, conducting Nabucco. He was born in 1931 in Adria in the Veneto region. He was the director of Zurich Opera from 1958 to 1969. In 1960, Santi conducted the Wiener Philharmoniker for Don Carlo in Salzburg with Boris Christoff and Ettore Bastianini. At The Royal Opera House in … [Read more...] about Conductor Nello Santi – who conducted 401 performances at The Met – has died at 88
Rolando Panerai dies at 95 – a career of tradition and adventure
With Rolando Panerai we lose a star of opera that we will not see the like of again, and many of his performances have shaped the history of La Scala’s opera house. La Scala left these words today, reflecting on the career of the great baritone, who died on Tuesday at 95. Maybe some of Panerai's most memorable performances at La Scala were in Lucia di Lammermoor with Callas … [Read more...] about Rolando Panerai dies at 95 – a career of tradition and adventure
Alberto Testa – Italian dancer, choreographer, teacher and writer – has died at 96
Alberto Testa was a walking encyclopedia of dance, always elegantly dressed with never a hair out of place, and was very much of another time recalling Frederick Ashton with his old-school ways. Although he could be childlike and impish in his humour, he commanded great deference from those who collaborated with him and those who could call him their friend. Just as the young … [Read more...] about Alberto Testa – Italian dancer, choreographer, teacher and writer – has died at 96
Tenor Marcello Giordani has died at 56
Tenor Marcello Giordani died this afternoon following a heart attack – he was 56 years old. He was at his home in Augusta in the Province of Syracuse when at about 3 pm, after lunch, he felt unwell, but an hour of attempts to revive him by medical staff who arrived by ambulance and helicopter were to no avail. Just a month ago he was singing the role of Calaf in Turandot at … [Read more...] about Tenor Marcello Giordani has died at 56
La Scala remembers Jessye Norman in words and pictures
Jessye Norman didn’t sing very often at La Scala, but the impact on the few occasions when she appeared was great. The opera house released the following photos from its archives today to remember the soprano, who died yesterday morning in New York following complications from a spinal cord injury she sustained in 2015. She was 74. The management and all the workers at La … [Read more...] about La Scala remembers Jessye Norman in words and pictures
La Scala mourns the death of a tenor with a minute’s silence and moving trumpet solo
Before the final performance of I masnadieri at La Scala yesterday evening, the curtain rose on a crowded set with the chorus, soloists, technicians and other backstage theatre workers, together with the director of the chorus, Bruno Casoni, and the intendant of the theatre, Alexander Periera. They were there to pay their respects to tenor Giuseppe Bellanca, a member of the … [Read more...] about La Scala mourns the death of a tenor with a minute’s silence and moving trumpet solo
Addio Marino Palleschi – one of Italy’s most intelligent and perceptive dance critics
Marino Palleschi didn’t write for a newspaper or magazine, he didn’t commentate during the interval of dance transmissions, he hardly wrote in blogs (after an early collaboration ended with balletto.net, an Italian dance news and forum site), but his comments through Facebook on dance – and not only – were widely appreciated by both fans and dance professionals. Marino died … [Read more...] about Addio Marino Palleschi – one of Italy’s most intelligent and perceptive dance critics
Ballerina Jacquelin De Min dies at the age of 76
Ballerina Jacquelin De Min has died at the age of 76 at her home in Cannes after a long illness. She began dancing with the ballet company at the Opera House in Strasbourg when she was 16, and soon after with the Gran Ballet du Marquise De Cuevas, followed by the ballet companies in Nice and Geneva. In 1968 she became a Principal Dancer with the Gran Ballet Classique de … [Read more...] about Ballerina Jacquelin De Min dies at the age of 76