Triumphant Applause for 'A Lady Macbeth from the District of Mcensk

Dmitrij Šostakovič's "A Lady Macbeth from the District of Mcensk" at La Scala ended to the convinced applause of the audience for this twelfth and "perhaps last" St. Ambrose under the baton of Riccardo Chailly. The conductor himself appeared particularly satisfied at the conclusion of this opera, which marks his personal success and that of the entire cast of artists and musicians; starting with the protagonist Sara Jakubiak (Katerina Izmajlova). And the applause lasted thunderously for a good 11 minutes. Which, if, thinking about it, one remembers that this is an opera in Russian, well then the success of all the singers and this orchestra is truly remarkable. And the sold-out evening with record takings confirmed this.

But it was on the more unprecedented timbres that Chailly crowned this highly tense performance of his, providing it on several occasions - with more than textbook hammering and lashings, without ever overpowering the voices, on the contrary all enhancing, in an expressionistic, at times explosive manner - and making this his latest premiere the worthy seal for a conducting that has never disappointed. Let us hope we do not have to regret it! As for the virtuosi, of the protagonist Sara Jakubiak, it has been said from the outset, a difficult role, but with a voice like that nothing was unattainable, really good, I gladly repeat myself. But well done everyone, starting with her father-in-law Boris, the bass Alexander Roslavets, not to mention the chorus and orchestra. Vaily Barkhatov's direction is hyper-realistic, and good again.

Instead, the audience of great occasions languished. Absent once again this year were the Presidents of the Republic and the Prime Minister, the royal box was attended by life senator Liliana Segre (applauded on her arrival), Constitutional Court President Giovanni Amoroso, the host Mayor Giuseppe Sala and Lombardy Region President Attilio Fontana, while representing the government was an unusually laconic (perhaps because he was awkwardly dressed?) Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli, who, in response to our microphone's provocation as to why it was 'only up to him' to represent the executive, replied 'it's certainly not a chore'. "Of course we would have been pleased to have been there, but we are happy with our public, our Scala and our excellence. Lombardy is doing very well,' was President Fontana's bitter comment in response to those who asked him if he was sorry for the absence of President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Meloni. In short, that on the parterre is a discourse apart. In all the years I have been attending, I have never had to record such a sad evening. Everyone was rather under-represented, starting from the royal box, not to mention the hall.

Also few were the protagonists from the world of business and finance. Among them were Fedele Confalonieri, president of Mediaset and Mfe-MediaForEurope, the Milanese businesswoman Diana Bracco, the president of Abi, Antonio Patuelli, the president of Confcommercio, Carlo Sangalli, Emma Marcegaglia, president and CEO of Marcegaglia Investments, the bankers Giovanni Bazoli, Corrado Passera, the CEO of Eni, Claudio Descalzi, Francesco Micheli, Barbara Berlusconi, a member of the board of Fininvest and also a member of the board of La Scala, who commented: "I think it is an important evening for culture and also a very beautiful one for the people who came to admire this opera. I took on this role on the board of directors with great commitment to help La Scala continue its extraordinary work'.

So the journalists in the room had no choice but to cling to the singing duo, which in this temple of bel canto seems even bizarre to say, Achille Lauro-Mahmood: perhaps because they were really dazed, or because they were put to the test by the professionally unreachable heights of their 'colleagues' on stage, they appeared listless and tired, and repeatedly denied themselves to the reporters in the room. The latter, it must be said, with a pompous sass to which we were not accustomed here. The opera had well-defined grotesque passages, the foyer (and the comments on the RAI live broadcast, with the reiterated and at times incomprehensible to most Carlucci-Vespa duo) no less so!