Alessandro Siciliani, the son of famed La Scala artistic director Francesco Siciliani (1911-1996), followed in his father’s footsteps to become a leading interpreter of the classical operatic repertoire for international audiences. The artistic and music director of Opera Project Columbus in Ohio for the past decade, Maestro Alessandro Siciliani has conducted major world orchestras on four continents.
The opera house at La Scala (known to Italians as Teatro alla Scala) in Milan is among the world’s best-known and most beautiful musical and architectural landmarks. The building was constructed in the neoclassical style by architect Giuseppe Piermarini in the 1770s for Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, the ruler of the duchy of Milan.
The building’s relatively unassuming facade, with classically proportioned regularities, was meant to blend with the existing buildings on Milan’s Piazza della Scala. The elegant luxuriousness of the building’s interior was marked early on by the opulence of the individual boxes belonging to wealthy Milanese families who were able to embellish them as they pleased.
The first production at La Scala was a performance of L’Europa riconosciuta by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s rival Antonio Salieri. Additionally, violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini made his debut at La Scala in 1813. In the latter part of the 19th century, the theater established a long relationship with Giuseppe Verdi, whose operas Otello and Falstaff had their world premieres there.
Conductor Arturo Toscanini, who played cello at the premiere of Otello, went on to become La Scala’s principal conductor at the turn of the century. Conductors who have led the orchestra at La Scala in recent years include Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado, and Daniel Barenboim.
The opera house at La Scala (known to Italians as Teatro alla Scala) in Milan is among the world’s best-known and most beautiful musical and architectural landmarks. The building was constructed in the neoclassical style by architect Giuseppe Piermarini in the 1770s for Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, the ruler of the duchy of Milan.
The building’s relatively unassuming facade, with classically proportioned regularities, was meant to blend with the existing buildings on Milan’s Piazza della Scala. The elegant luxuriousness of the building’s interior was marked early on by the opulence of the individual boxes belonging to wealthy Milanese families who were able to embellish them as they pleased.
The first production at La Scala was a performance of L’Europa riconosciuta by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s rival Antonio Salieri. Additionally, violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini made his debut at La Scala in 1813. In the latter part of the 19th century, the theater established a long relationship with Giuseppe Verdi, whose operas Otello and Falstaff had their world premieres there.
Conductor Arturo Toscanini, who played cello at the premiere of Otello, went on to become La Scala’s principal conductor at the turn of the century. Conductors who have led the orchestra at La Scala in recent years include Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado, and Daniel Barenboim.
