Scala, the new season presented. On 7 December we start with Šostakovič

Thirteen operas, seven ballets and then concerts, singing recitals, children's activities and cultural insights. The Teatro alla Scala in Milan presented the new 2025/2026 season, the first under the new superintendent Fortunato Ortombina and the last under the artistic direction of Riccardo Chailly, who will leave the podium to Myung-Whun Chung.

The season will open on 7 December with Šostakovič's "A Lady Macbeth in the District of Mcensk". "Pelléas et Mélisande" will mark the La Scala debut of director Romeo Castellucci, but it will not be conducted as planned by Daniele Gatti (replaced by Maxime Pascal) who, long tipped as Chailly's successor, has cancelled all commitments with La Scala following the appointment as music director of Myung-Whun Chung, who will conduct Giuseppe Verdi's "Otello" on 7 December 2026.

"La Scala is a political and cultural cornerstone of our country," said Milan's mayor Giuseppe Sala, who is also president of La Scala's opera foundation, during the press conference presenting the season, which was also attended by the undersecretary for Culture Gianmarco Mazzi and the president of Lombardy, Attilio Fontana.

An example of the theatre's also political role is the opera chosen for 7 December, which carries 'a message of denunciation against oppression and for freedom of expression', added the mayor, who asked La Scala to 'go even further out of the theatre to reach out to young people'.

Ortombina responded somewhat, saying that the activities aimed at young people will be expanded, but he also said he was proud of the under-35 audience figure, which now represents (with 1,500 subscribers) one third of the spectators in a theatre that has a 90% occupancy rate.