News from Italy
Thirteen minutes of applause for Boris Godunov at La Scala:
Mattarella: “Russian culture cannot be erased”
Vita gazette – The opening night of the La Scala season once again showed the whole world the immortality of art, culture, and artists. In the first performance of the opera season, “Boris Godunov” composed by the Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky was staged. President Sergio Mattarella: “Russian culture cannot be erased”
It is “A work of irresistible charm, captivating to the max” for President Mattarella, who attended the opera from the Royal Box with his daughter Laura, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the president of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the Senate Ignazio La Russa, the governor Attilio Fontana, and the mayor Beppe Sala. The audience of politicians was large with the Ministers of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano, of Business and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso, of Research and University Anna Maria Bernini and for Institutional Reforms Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati. For President Mattarella “the great Russian culture is an integral part of European culture, the responsibility for the war must be attributed to the government of that country certainly not to the Russian people or their culture.”
13 minutes of applause
Modest Musorgsky’s Boris Godunov, conducted by Maestro Riccardo Chailly and directed by Kasper Holten, which inaugurated the season of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan won his bet, receiving 13 minutes of applause. With an ovation for Ildar Abdrazakov, the charming bass, in his seventh on December 7th and one for the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella who was greeted warmly by the audience upon entering the hall, with a standing ovation and 4 minutes of applause.
Protest art, artist, and culture!
The opening of the Scala season also provoked protests in front of the historic opera house. As a group of Ukrainians objected to La Scala’s preference for a piece of Russian opera for the season opener, they raised banners against the war and against Russia.
And the environmental activists of the Last Generation this time daub the Teatro alla Scala with colored paint, on the day of the Premiere. The protest action around 7.45: five twenty-year-olds brought to the police station.
President Mattarella: “Great Russian culture is an integral part of European culture”
President Mattarella, upon his arrival at the opera, touched upon the criticism of the opening of La Scala’s season with a Russian piece, saying: “Great Russian culture is an integral part of European culture. This is an irreversible matter. Responsibility for the war rests not with the Russian people or culture, but with that country’s government.”
Prime Minister Meloni: “We have no problems with the Russian people, history and culture”
Prime Minister Meloni also said: “You know my position on the conflict in Ukraine, but I think culture is something else and we should not make the mistake of mixing different issues. We have no problem with the Russian people, with Russian history, our problem is the preferences of those who decide to invade a politically sovereign nation. It is right to keep these two issues separate.
The Minister of Culture: “art must always be distinguished from politics”
The Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano made a comparison with Dostoevsky: “I believe that art should always be distinguished from politics otherwise we shouldn’t read it anymore”.
Ursula von der Leyen: “We must honor culture”
“We must honor culture” underlined the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, guest of honor of the evening.