Ortombina: 'La Scala's new season will be all about inclusiveness'

Thirteen opera titles, seven ballet titles, as many concerts and many activities for children and young people. Today the Teatro alla Scala in Milan will present the 2026-2027 season, which, as far as opera is concerned, will open on 7 December with Verdi's "Otello", and the superintendent of the opera foundation, Fortunato Ortombina, highlights a particular aspect that is close to his heart, apart from the artistic quality of the proposal: "it will be an even more accessible season, because our aim is to make La Scala an increasingly inclusive theatre, able to welcome groups of the public who, until now, for various reasons, have never been to our theatre".

One of the main reasons is certainly the price of tickets. Will you act on this?  

Affordability is an important issue and in fact for the new season we have devised an increase mechanism limited to the best seats, creating a new 'premium' bracket. The added value generated by these tickets will allow us to strengthen our accessibility policies which, I would like to remind you, were introduced in the 1970s by Paolo Grassi, but which today need to be updated and expanded. Every season we register about 180,000 admissions at subsidised conditions, aimed in particular at young people under the age of 26, who make up about 60% of the total, adults who are members of company crals or cultural circles, 30%, and the over-65s, 10-15%. Starting in 2027, we will launch a new proposal, aimed at residents of the Milan Metropolitan City who are coming to La Scala for the first time, who will be able to purchase tickets with a 50% reduction.

But inclusion, as you say, is not only about prices. What else are you working on?

Accessibility also depends on how a certain product is packaged, which can be more or less attractive or welcoming. For example, next year will be the 200th anniversary of Beethoven's death. We will not be doing, say, the Fidelio, but an unprecedented opera aimed at children, young people and schools, on Beethoven, to introduce the composer, the character, the artist, the message of universal afflatus of his music that culminates with the Ninth Symphony. Moreover, we are strengthening the work we do with schools, activating new collaborations, with a special focus on suburbs and socially fragile contexts. La Scala has an international stature, but it is first and foremost one of the main symbols of Milan, which has always been able to speak to its city and must continue to do so. With its citizens, institutions and businesses. From the very beginning, and then especially during the difficult years of post-war reconstruction in 1946, the great Milanese entrepreneurial families have supported this theatre.