MILAN - The new season at La Scala Opera House in Milan will be opened on Dec. 7 by La Forza del Destino - a Giuseppe Verdi opera rarely performed at La Scala and seen by some to be 'cursed'. 

 The Director General of La Scala Dominic Meyer told FQ Magazine that he sees this, the last production under his supervision, as an occasion to bring together some of the performers who have defined his time in the top role. The artists in question include the Russian soprano Anna Netrebko, mezzo-soprano Vasilisa Berzhanskya, the tenor Brian Jagde and the baritone Ludovic Tezier.

 The opera is technically challenging, adds the musical director Riccardo Chailly - it contains 'music of the highest calibre, demands exceptional voices, and requires extraordinary commitment'. 

 The ambitiousness of the performance is heightened by some unconventional narrative choices. The director Leo Muscato has made the decision to traverse centuries, with the story opening in the 18th Century and closing in the modern day. 

 He also hopes that the theme of war in the opera will offer some reflection and relevance to ongoing conflicts in the present day. 'When we were commissioned to create this production, media attention was focused on a war that dominated daily news. Since then, the conflicts have multiplied—now there are two, not to mention the forgotten wars that struggle to find space in the media. In such a delicate historical moment, the risk of slipping into trivialization is palpable and insidious'. 

 But Muscato and his creative team hope that the gripping story, based on the libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, and compelling music will provide a sensational opening to the new season at La Scala. 

 The directors have already faced some setbacks though, as tenor Jonas Kauffman recently withdrew from the production and had to be replaced by Brian Jagde. La Forza del Destino is one of those productions, like Shakespeare's Macbeth, which is steeped in superstition and apprehension. 

 At the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 1960, baritone Leonard Warren collapsed and died during a performance of La Forza. It is supposedly for this reason that Luciano Pavarotti refused to ever perform the opera. 

 Despite this, Muscato remains optimistic that the production, only performed a handful of times before at La Scala, will be a success. 'I'm not superstitious at all', he says. 'My hope, however, is that after such a long absence, this opera will leave a mark on La Scala’s history'. 

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