The President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella will not be there tomorrow at the inauguration of the opera season at La Scala with Giuseppe Verdi’s Don Carlo, but the one who will physically take his place (and in all likelihood the warm applause that the hall usually gives him) will be the senator for life Liliana Segre who will sit at the center of the royal box. In this way, a hectic day ended in which the assignment of seats in the royal box seemed like a puzzle, or rather a complex game of chess in which the ceremonial aspect intersected with the purely political one, bordering on the accident diplomatic and defusing the possibility of disputes.
The morning began with a statement from the Scala representatives of the CGIL and the Anpi section of La Scala who announced that they would not participate “in any institutional greeting ceremony aimed at those who have never condemned fascism, its colonial wars, the alliance and the subjection to Nazism which generated racial laws and much mourning and misery for the Italian people”, communicated with the title “fascists are not welcome at La Scala”. The name of the president of the Senate does not appear in the text, but the representatives themselves confirmed that they were referring to him by refusing to be present at the usual greeting from the authorities to the cast and a delegation of the artistic masses. And among the musicians, some even imagined some protest against La Russa on the part of the audience who last year (as always in recent years) warmly applauded Mattarella, who had Giorgia Meloni next to him.
The Head of State had to decline the invitation this year, promising to arrive in 2024, and the Prime Minister will be in Milan but only in the morning to visit the Artisan at the fair and then take part in a charity initiative. Strictly ceremonial, the central place on the stage belonged to La Russa, who however launched a proposal: “I would be happy – he said – if Senator for life Segre, tomorrow where the President of the Republic cannot be present, was present on the stage stage of honor at La Scala, also to reiterate the closeness and solidarity that exists in all of us on Middle Eastern affairs. Naturally this depends on Mrs. Segre and on a formal invitation from the mayor but I believe this is ongoing.” Then the news filtered through that Sala would sit next to Segre but in the stalls, abandoning the royal box, even though the mayor, as president of the theatre, is the host. Choice, said the mayor, that she did not want to be polemical towards La Russa but rather “a political message” of “closeness with Senator Segre”.
At this point the president of the Senate also said he was ready to sit in the audience next to Segre. Then in the evening the designation of seats in the box with him, his wife Laura de Cicco, the senator’s daughter, Federica Belli Paci, Liliana Segre, Giusppe Sala and his partner Chiara Bazzoli in the front row. And behind the deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini, the minister Maria Elisabetta Casellati, the governor Attilio Fontana and the prefect Claudio Sgaraglia. Also seated among the audience were Vittorio Sgarbi, the director Pedro Almodovar and the actor Louis Garrel, Ornella Vanoni and Patti Smith. Everyone is ready to enjoy the show tomorrow.
ANSA Agency Italian opera singing is a world heritage site – Theater – Ansa.it The proclamation took place by acclamation in Botswana (ANSA) At the premiere guests will be Patti Smith and Liliana Segre
World of politics, entertainment, art and finance: as always the premiere at La Scala is a moment of meeting between different worlds. And it is so again this year with a host of guests ranging from Patti Smith to senator for life Liliana Segre, from the president of the Senate Ignazio La Russa to the director of the Paris Opéra Alexandre Neef. This year, for Don Carlo directed by Riccardo Chailly, the Head of State Sergio Mattarella will not be present, but he has already assured his presence for next year, and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, but La Russa and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini , the Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano, of Reforms Maria Elisabetta Casellati, and the undersecretaries of Culture Gianmarco Mazzi and Vittorio Sgarbi.
And also the Chief of Staff Giuseppe Cavo Dragone. The mayor Giuseppe Sala, who is president of the theatre, and the president of the Region Attilio Fontana will do the honors. Claudio Sgaraglia, newly appointed prefect of Milan, will make his debut, while the presence of senator for life Mario Monti is confirmed.
Raina Kabaivanska will return to La Scala, the unforgettable protagonist of Don Carlo in the part of Elisabetta in 1964 with Gabriele Santini and in 1969 with Claudio Abbado, and Ornella Vanoni is also expected, as are the architects Stefano Boeri and Mario Botta, who signed the expansion of the Piermarini and the new tower in via Verdi, and also the artist Francesco Vezzoli, the artistic director of the Maxxi in Rome Francesco Stocchi, the actress Andrea Jonasson, widow of Giorgio Strehler, the CEO of Rai Roberto Sergio, the former Scala superintendents Carlo Fontana, who has just published his autobiography ‘It will be the adventure, a life for the theatre’ and Alexander Pereira and theater guides such as the Monnaie of Brussels Peter de Caluwe, the artistic director of the Real Madrid Joan Matabosch, the superintendents among other things, the Accademia di Santa Cecilia Michele dall’Ongaro and the Regio di Torino Francesco Giambrone.
And obviously the La Scala étoiles Roberto Bolle and Nicoletta Manni, newly appointed, together with her husband Timofej Adrijashenko, also a principal dancer from La Scala like Antonella Albano, Martina Arduino, Alice Mariani, Virna Toppi, Marco Agostino. Nicola Del Freo and Antonino Sutera.
There will also be director Pedro Almodovar and actor Louis Garrel at the Scala premiere tomorrow. This was anticipated by the Giorgio Armani fashion house, which for tomorrow’s evening will also dress the principal dancers Nicoletta Manni and Timofej Andrijashenko, who got married last summer in Salento. Chiara Bazoli, partner of Mayor Beppe Salza, Giovanna Salza, wife of Corrado Passera, and Maria Porro, president of the Salone del Mobile, also chose to wear a Giorgio Armani creation. The Scala dancers Claudio Coviello, Alice Mariani, Martina Arduino and Marco Agostino will also be dressed in Armani.
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