Prime minister joins La Scala’s season opener, which is often met by anti-austerity protests and this year took place amid concerns over terrorism
By
Rosie Scammell
Milan’s opera season opened on
Monday night to rapturous applause and a visit from Italy’s prime minister,
Matteo Renzi, despite La Scala theatre being listed as a possible terrorist
target and a lone protester diving into the orchestra pit.
Renzi was just one of Italy’s elite
to defy security warnings and a cold snap in the country’s financial capital to
attend the opening night of Verdi’s Joan of Arc (Giovanna d’Arco), which has
not been performed at the opera house for 150 years.
The Scala production got under way
with an apology by the theatre’s general manager, Alexander Pereira, announcing
the absence due to illness of one baritone. But the audience showed few signs
of disappointment, with shouts of “bravi!” throughout and more than ten minutes
of closing applause.
The notorious loggionisti, who are
known to boo their displeasure from the gods, remained well-behaved.
Much of the audience appeared
unaware of a lone protester, dressed in a ball gown, hurling herself over the
barrier and into the orchestra pit as the opera came to an end. Before being
escorted out of the pit she unfurled a white cloth which included the slogan:
“For a richer and more equal Italy.”
Neither the guests sitting next to
her nor La Scala’s spokesman, Paolo Besana, were able to immediately identify
the woman. Despite the security breach the applause continued and Renzi
remained until the end, accompanied by other key politicians such as Italy’s
culture minister, Dario Franceschini, and Milan’s mayor, Giuliano Pisapia.
The opera gala came after the US
government last month warned La Scala was a potential target for a terrorist
attack, prompting the theatre to increase security. Dressed in their finest
gowns and tuxedos, opera lovers passed by polite police officers wielding metal
detectors and carrying out bag checks at the La Scala entrance.
Addressing the new measures on his
arrival, Franceschini said tightened security should not stop people enjoying
themselves. “It’s necessary to guarantee the security of citizens with all
(necessary) measures and resources, but at the same time it’s necessary to
continue to live and avoid fear preventing life,” the minister was quoted in
Italian daily Corriere della Sera as saying.
As has become tradition on 7
December, protesters gathered outside La Scala to rally against austerity and
promote various causes. Demonstrators were separated from the theatregoers by
rows of riot police and barriers and rolled out their own red carpet, avoiding
the violent clashes which marred the gala a year ago.
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