In spite of choristers and orchestra members declining to perform on the eagerly anticipated concert of 29 November 2024, soloists Jonas Kaufmann and Anna Netrebko headlined mesmerising arias in honour of the Italian composer.
MILAN, ITALY – It’s a painful time to tell stories about the arts. Over the last weeks, Italian workers protested against national downturns causing severe hardships both in public services and to mid-level citizens.
As the government’s attempts to redirect the distribution of profits prompted sluggish aftermaths – exacerbating the sectors of health, education and public affairs – Italy’s trade unions have been mobilising day-long strikes across the country.
Teatro Alla Scala. Photograph: Brescia e Amisano ©
Milan’s La Scala choristers and orchestra members, key components of the highly awaited concert planned on 29 November in memory of Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, eschewed the idea and declined to perform. Without further revocations, the evening was handled with great poise by superintendent Dominique Meyer who gave a speech to announce the new plan.
“I do understand the strike as it’s for a right cause, but it was a very special date given many spectators came from abroad,” said Meyer. “While I’m respectful of laws and rules, I’m also respectful of the public and I thought, since I’m missing too many choristers and professors of the orchestra, why not give the public a full Pucciniam experience to the audience; in this case, we had a piece from every Puccini opera,” he says, explaining that “the singers were happy to do it and they agreed to sing much more than what was planned, if one made the comparison between the concert and the initial programme.”
Jonas Kaufmann. Photograph: Gregor Hohenberg
Exactly 100 years after the composer’s death, La Scala brought forth a concert that included soloists Anna Netrebko, Mariangela Sicilia and Jonas Kaufmann. The programme retraced youthful passages from the Preludio Sinfonico composed in 1882 for the final composition exam at the Conservatorio in Milan to the intermezzo from Madama Butterfly, which had its contrasting premiere at La Scala in 1904.
From Edgar, staged at La Scala in 1889 with a complex series of revisions, soprano Mariangela Sicilia sang the Prelude to Act III. The programme also comprised Act IV of the composer’s first great success: Manon Lescaut, staged in 1893 at the Teatro Regio in Turin.
More performers encompassed the likes of soprano Anna Netrebko, currently rehearsing Verdi’s La Forza del Destino which will open the new season on 7 December. Netrebko was also engaged in La Bohème in Monte Carlo and at La Scala was Floria Tosca in the edition conducted by Chailly on 7 December 2019.
Anna Netrebko. Photograph: Vladimir Shirokov
Additionally, Jonas Kaufmann—whose distinctive proclivity, versatility and timbre never forgets Puccini’s rendition of shading and colouring—returned to the famed Milanese stage: he recently released the duets album ‘Puccini Love Affairs’ (Sony) and in 2015 was the protagonist at La Scala in a tribute to the composer with the Philharmonic conducted by Jochen Rieder, which was filmed in a documentary directed by Brian Large.
Lastly, Mariangela Sicilia (also expected at La Scala on 21 December in the Christmas Petite messe solennelle conducted by Daniele Gatti) is an authentic interpreter of this Puccini year. Last April she was applauded as Magda in La Rondine conducted at La Scala by Chailly. Still, in recent months she also sang Mimì in La Bohème at the Maggio Fiorentino and Macerata Festivals and Liù in Turandot at the Arena di Verona.
Puccini was indeed one of the few composers capable of punching emotions to high levels. Kaufmann made an ardent, virile-sounding performance with an easy ring in his upper registers and a marvellous way with text; one could hear every word, which is relatively rare nowadays. Netrebko sounded glorious and marvellously moving in the way she suggests drama and dismay.
Mariangela Sicilia. Photograph: Ugo Carlevaro e Ewa Lang
It’s safe to say that both are two multifaceted artists in lyric and coloratura styles, engaged in ardent emotional exchanges, particularly in Manon Lescaut’s IV act duet: an extended arm, a glance away. Kaufmann had impeccable diction and vocal gleam from top to bottom, with scarcely a snag. Netrebko’s stage presence, on the other hand, is vivaciously dramatic, and she isn’t shy to embody the real Puccinian diva.
Deserving the same top billing as Kaufmann and Netrebko, the Italian soprano Mariangela Sicilia brought great, sharp magnificence to the aria ‘O mio babbino caro’, stylishly sung with a punchy vibrato.
On the side of Netrebko, dramatic integrity, captivating characterisation and a rich lower register are of the essence, sometimes at the expense of accuracy. She sang with a depth of feeling and warmth of tone: La Boheme’s Quando m’en vo’ sounded beautiful, holding the stage every second she was on it.
“I hope that we have done enough justice to celebrate this divine master who, in my opinion, was the king of melodies that have remained in our hearts almost all our lives,” concluded Kaufmann.
by Chidozie Obasi