Luisa Mandelli, Maria Callas’ Annina at La Scala, died last night, just short of her 96th birthday. Daniel Barenboim called her the ‘eternal Annina’ having sung alongside Callas in Luchino Visconti’s production of La traviata at La Scala under the baton of Carlo Maria Giulini. Mandelli was a constant presence in the theatre travelling on the […]
Daniel Barenboim
Bartoli steps in as Villazón withdraws from closing gala at Salzburg Festival
The closing gala concert at Salzburg’s Whitsun Festival was to have featured the Festival’s director, Cecilia Bartoli, together with tenors Jonas Kaufmann and Rolando Villazón, and the Staatskapelle Berlin under the baton of Daniel Barenboim. A line up that almost justifies the more than €300 ticket price. Villazón cancelled at the last moment “for health […]
Maria José Siri answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Singers’ Edition
Q&A in italiano When did you start singing? I started as young girl… for as long as I can remember. Why did you start singing? I started by accident. I was supposed to go to my saxophone class, but I was given the wrong day and time of the lesson, and therefore I found myself […]
La Scala, Milan: Opera and Recital Season 2017 – 2018
A pleasing new season at La Scala seems to tick all the right boxes, with half the programming dedicated to the Italian repertoire, some rarities, important international operas and a world premiere. The season will also mark the 40th Anniversary of Riccardo Chailly’s collaboration with the theatre, and the 95th birthday of Franco Zeffirelli. The […]
Photo album and cast of Don Giovanni at La Scala
Robert Carsen’s spectacular production for La Scala of Don Giovanni created for the opening of the opera season in 2011, started a ten-performance run last night, which ends on 6 June. The Financial Times review opened with, No coup de théâtre ever matched Mozart’s opening chords as stunningly as this. This is a welcome return. […]
Traviata opens tonight at La Scala… here’s a sneak peek
The staging of La traviata is the lavish Liliana Cavani production with sets by Dante Ferretti with which Verdi’s masterpiece returned to La Scala in 1990 conducted by Riccardo Muti. It was performed as a preview performance two days ago, with the proceeds going to help Italy’s earthquake victims. Ailyn Perez will be singing tonight’s […]
Anita Rachvelishvili and David Aladashvili cast magic at La Scala
It’s not often that the accompanist for a recital is mentioned in the opening paragraph of a review, but Anita Rachvelishvili’s recital at La Scala with pianist David Aladashvili was a true joint effort, not just musically, but from how they shared the stage. They obviously know each other very well and although Aladashvili, a […]
Maria José Siri on being chosen as Chailly’s Butterfly at La Scala
Soprano Maria José Siri will be the protagonist of Madama Butterfly for the opening of the La Scala opera season on 7 December 2016. She was born in Uruguay but has been living for several years in Italy. The opera’s conductor, Riccardo Chailly, chose her for Cio-Cio-San, a performance that will be transmitted live to cinemas, on […]
Barenboim drops Callas’s 93-year-old Annina from tonight’s Traviata in Berlin
93-year-old Luisa Mandelli, who sixty years ago was the Annina in Luchino Visconti’s La traviata with Maria Callas, was due to perform the same role under the baton of Daniel Barenboim this month. Was… unfortunately things didn’t go as planned. As a Wagner fan, Mandelli attended many of the performances conducted by Barenboim during the […]
Massimo Cavalletti answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Singers’ Edition
Q&A in italiano When did you start singing? I began singing when I was six years old in the choir at Saint Anne’s church in Lucca, where I was born. I started singing opera when I was twenty-one. Why did you start singing? I began singing because as soon as I discovered my voice it […]
