Luisa Spinatelli… taking tasteful to a higher dimension The Amici della Scala (Friends of La Scala), run by the indefatigable Anna Crespi, gathered together at the association’s spectacular headquarters, a short walk from La Scala, to celebrate one of Italy’s most important theatre designers.Luisa Spinatelli is one of a tight-knit core of Milanese artists, by birth or … [Read more...]
14 minutes of applause for Anna Netrebko at La Scala in La traviata [interview and photos]
![14 minutes of applause for Anna Netrebko at La Scala in La traviata [interview and photos]](https://i0.wp.com/www.gramilano.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/La-traviata-with-Anna-Netrebko-Francesco-Meli-and-Leo-Nucci-©-Teatro-alla-Scala-Amisano-e-Brescia-2017-06.jpg?resize=360%2C200&ssl=1)
Anna Netrebko has returned to La Scala to sing Violetta as she sings ‘addio’ to the role. She will sing in a Traviata once more in Paris next February, and then that’s it for the curvy Russian and the consumptive courtesan. The idea of tackling this role at La Scala was my idea, so I talked it over with Pereira. I was very worried about it and extremely nervous. Singing … [Read more...]
Angela Gheorghiu reveals Alagna’s pathological jealousy of Kaufmann
I'm in love and happy. His name's Mihai Ciortea and he's Romanian like me. He's good-looking, kind and very, very young. Angela Gheorghiu is talking about her new partner who is twenty-two years her junior and works as a dentist. He followed me everywhere in the theatres. We first met a couple of years ago at Covent Garden after a performance of La Rondine. We haven't been … [Read more...]
Happy 80th Birthday Mirella Freni… from La Scala – in photos and video
Mirella Freni is eighty, and to celebrate her birthday La Scala threw open its doors to her fans and opera lovers to see the great soprano once again on the stage that was hers for so many years.A feisty Freni strode onstage and seemed surprised and visibly moved by the long standing ovation. She was not there to sing, though she says she still has the voice, but with … [Read more...]
The funeral of Magda Olivero – 11 September 2014
Magda Olivero's funeral was a life affirming mix of emotions. She was a practising Catholic, and three different priests, who had been close to her for many years, spoke about this very special woman.A Czechoslovakian had known Olivero from the 1960s when he took over the church in Solda. This was where she had a holiday home with her husband, at 2,000-meters, in the … [Read more...]