Teatro alla Scala aka: La Scala

We booked tickets for Aida, and were very excited to visit La Scala. They weren’t the cheapest tickets, but the seats were awful. Luckily, somebody left halfway through, and we got much better seats.

My passion for opera began when I was 9 years old, when I was still in Bienville Parish in rural North Louisiana with little access to performances. (I tell the story at Shreveport > Civic Theatre.) As I near 50, am living in Los Angeles and am traveling from time to time, I am seeing more opera these days than ever. Makes me happy. In Europe, I’ve attended performances in 4 different houses in Paris (Opera Garnier, Opera Bastille, Théâtre du Châtelet, Comédie-Française), at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, and at the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania. Obviously, there are some important opera houses I have not yet visited, La Scala being one. I’ll get there someday.

Not only was I able to see the theatre, but the opera Rigoletto. Well, I heard the opera from my seat anyway…

I was this close to La Scala when I was in Milan…Somewhere, I even have a photo of myself standing in front of it (proof of how near I was to the theatre), but that’s as close as I could get. You see, I was in Milan during a seasonal break between operas, so I couldn’t see any performances there. But the worst part was that the place was closed for minor renovations at the time, so I couldn’t even step inside to take a gander at the hall. Sooo disappointing! Obviously, I have to go back to Milan…

I may not be able to get to Milan soon enough to see L’Europa Riconosciuta, but I can dream. And I’m sure that there will be something fantastic going on whenever I can make my way to Italy.

Antonio Salieri is a great composer in his own right and deserves to be known for more than just “Mozart’s jealous villain antagonist”... which he really wasn’t. -eyeroll-