From 28 May to 25 June 2025, every Wednesday at 7 p.m., the courtyard of the Accademia Teatro alla Scala will come alive thanks to the young artists of the Scuola scaligera for a series of concerts that, accompanied by the lively and captivating narration of the musicologist Fabio Sartorelli, will explore some of the most beloved composers in the history of music from new angles: Puccini, Haydn, Verdi and Ravel.
Closing the cycle of meetings will be a dialogue with Daniele Abbado, one of the most sensitive directors on the contemporary theatre scene and one of the first to use technological innovations as artistic expressions in opera productions.
The initiative, with free admission and compulsory booking, is realised with the support of Fondazione Bracco as Main Sponsor and the contribution of Regione Lombardia.
The Bracco Foundation, a Founding Member of the Academy, is once again at the side of the La Scala School to support the path of those young people who intend to build their professional lives on their passion for art and music.
The event opens on Wednesday 28 May with a meeting entitled Puccini and artificial intelligence. Fabio Sartorelli will invite us to reflect on the ever-increasing influence that artificial intelligence now exerts on our lives. And it will be curious to see what results, sometimes disappointing, sometimes surprising, a generative music creation programme can produce, capable of completely revolutionising one of the most famous pieces of Italian opera, Rodolfo's aria ‘Che gelida manina’ from La bohème. It will then be tenor Haiyang Guo who will restore its poetry by performing the duet ‘Vogliatemi bene’ from Madama Butterfly with soprano Laura Lolita Perešivana, who also performs the celebrated ‘O mio babbino caro’ from Gianni Schicchi.
Wednesday, 4 June will be the turn of Haydn the Amazing. A composer as prolific as he is innovative, contrary to the common perception that sees him as a powdery court composer, rigid and austere, Franz Joseph Haydn actually reveals a personality rich in humour and sharp intelligence. Performing the String Quartet, Op. 20 No. 2, are the young musicians of the Academy Orchestra in Chamber Composition: Anna Maria Popan and Julian Davidson, violins, Pierpaolo Rossi, viola and Jacopo Gaudenzi, cello.
On Wednesday 11 June, the Enorme Falstaff meeting is dedicated to Giuseppe Verdi's last opera, a rich opera that blends ironic tones with tones of bitter melancholy, an opera with which the composer from Busseto bids farewell to the theatre. The performers of the famous ‘Dal labbro il canto estasiato vola’, ‘È sogno... o realtà?’, ‘Sul fil d'un soffio etesio’ are tenor Aldo Sartori, baritone Wonjun Jo and soprano María Martín Campos.
On 18 June, we take a journey through early 20th-century France to discover a composer much loved by the general public such as Maurice Ravel, but of whom little is known about the meticulous and precise character forged by his engineer father. A character that can be found in perhaps lesser-known compositions, full of instrumental colour. The French master's Sonatina in F# minor for flute, viola and harp will be heard.
The festival closes on 25 June with a dialogue between Fabio Sartorelli and Daniele Abbado aimed at investigating the importance of directorial interpretation in the realisation of an opera production. It is also an opportunity to revisit some of the stagings that have marked the most recent interpretation of the great operas of the past.
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