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PEOPLE & ARTS Monday 10 deceMber 2018

La Scala premiere ‘Attila’ speaks to today’s global turmoil

By COLLEEN BARRY avenges the death of her
Associated Press father, the leader of Aq-
MILAN (AP) — La Scala’s uileia, by killing Attila. Ital-
season premiere Friday of a ian tenor Fabio Sartori sang
new production of Verdi’s the role of Foresto, the
“Attila” took on contempo- knight who loves Odabella
rary themes of male lead- and fears she is betraying
ers selling out to self-interest both him and her country.
while the final act of hero- Abdrazakov, who sang in
ism falls to a woman -- and his third La Scala season
won over an audience that premiere, said it was al-
included Italy’s president. ways his dream to sing “At-
“Not even a rapper from tila” at the famed Milanese
the Bronx is as contempo- opera house.
rary as Verdi,” said the pro- “In the early 1990s, when
duction’s stage director, I had no interest in opera
Davide Livermore. or classical music, I saw
The audience of gala pre- a video of ‘Attila’ at La
miere VIPs applauded for Scala. I don’t know what
13 minutes for the opera, happened, but the next
conducted by musical di- day I went to my teacher
rector Riccardo Chailly, and said I wanted to study
and welcomed President This undated photo made available by La Scala opera theater on Dec. 5, 2018 shows Spanish opera,” he said. “Slowly,
Sergio Mattarella at the soprano Saioa Hernandez, on the ground, and Russian bass Ildar Abdrazakov, right, performing thanks to Attila and La
start of the evening with a during a rehearsal of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Attila”, in Milan, Italy. Scala, I feel in love with
resounding five minutes of Associated Press opera.”q
applause. Chailly waited portrayed by Romanian
patiently at the podium to baritone George Petean,
begin the performance. of betraying his people
“Mattarella is serving an when he offers to give in-
extraordinary mandate. It vaders the rest of the em-
is very justified an applause pire in exchange for the
of this length seeing the Italian peninsula.
commitment and difficulty Abdrazakov enters on a
that he has had confront- horse, adding drama but
ed and is confronting,” raising protests by animal
Chailly said. After the per- rights activists. A papal
formance, Chailly said that figure arrived on a white
the president told him that horse later, to confront At-
music and culture were tila. Livermore said the ani-
“the bastions of democ- mals in the production are
racy.” professionally trained and
While the Dec. 7 premiere is that all proper procedures
a highlight of the European were followed.
cultural calendar, the audi- The confrontation be-
ence was mostly filled with tween Attila and Ezio has a
Milan VIPS. Several govern- political message that reso-
ment ministers attended nates today. “Attila teach-
alongside Mattarella, but es Ezio a moral lesson. He
none of the country’s pop- says: ‘You don’t sell out a
ulist leaders. country for your personal
The timing of the “At- account,’ “ Livermore said.
tila” premiere — against At that point, Livermore ini-
a backdrop of increasing tially envisioned having a
populism, global insecurity bridge in the background
and women’s rising power collapse as a symbol of
via the #MeToo movement ruin, but after the Genoa
and U.S. midterm elections bridge collapse that killed
— is coincidental. 43 people earlier this year,
“Attila” was chosen years he changed the stag-
ago by musical director ing. Now the bridge was
Chailly to be the second pulled apart, leaving a
in a trilogy dedicated to gap. While Verdi’s drama
Verdi’s early works, starting was set in the 5th Century,
with “Giovanna d’Arco,” Livermore’s chose a 21st
which opened the 2015-16 Century staging, with uni-
season, and “Macbeth,” forms and vehicles recall-
which has yet to be an- ing World War II.
nounced. In the prologue, Spanish soprano Saioa Her-
Attila, sung by Russian bass nandez made her debut at
Ildar Abdrazakov, accuses La Scala and in the role of
the Roman general Ezio, Odabella, who ultimately