The 2022/23 opera season opened tonight at the Teatro alla Scala, on stage "Boris Godunov" by Modest Petrovič Musorgsky.
In the royal box the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, greeted by an ovation with 5 minutes of applause and greeted with the cry of "Thank you president, thank you" . The Head of State in turn thanked moved, placing his hand over his heart several times. Next to him the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, the prime minister Giorgia Meloni who sang the anthem ("It's my first time, I'm curious" , underlined the premier), the president of the Senate Ignazio La Russa , the mayor of Milan Beppe Sala.
Also present were the Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano, the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso, the Minister of University and Research Anna Maria Bernini, Senator Liliana Segre, the President of the Lombardy Region Attilio Fontana and many names from around the world economy, culture and entertainment, such as the president of Mediaset Fedele Confalonieri, Mario Monti, Gianni Letta, Diana Bracco, the actress Sonia Bergamasco and her husband Fabrizio Gifuni, Stefano Accorsi, Alessandra Mastronardi and Rocío Muñoz Morales.
Maestro Riccardo Chailly performed the national anthem and the Ode to joy with the Scala orchestra before the start.
There was no shortage of protests outside. In the wake of the controversy surrounding the decision to stage a Russian opera for the premiere, a decision taken long before the outbreak of war, about twenty people from the Ukrainian community in Milan settled down in the afternoon in Piazza del Comune, in front of the Scala, with flags , including one with Putin's face in the center of a swastika, and several signs with phrases such as "no to Russian musicians who support the war" .
Protests also by some militants from social centers who attempted to break through the barriers, while in the morning environmentalists threw buckets of paint against the facade and entrance of the Theater, before sitting on the ground shouting: «We have to move, in Italy we are stuck. Enough gas and enough coal, by 2025».
(Unioneonline/L)
