Overview
- Riccardo Chailly conducts his final La Scala production, with Myung-Whun Chung set to succeed him next season.
- General manager Fortunato Ortombina defended programming Russian repertoire, saying music is superior to ideological conflict and holds authority beyond Putin.
- Authorities moved a planned +Europa peace rally from the theater’s square to a location behind City Hall for security reasons.
- Director Vasily Barkhatov sets the production in a cosmopolitan 1950s Russian city, featuring an Art Deco restaurant and rotating spaces for shifting scenes.
- American soprano Sara Jakubiak makes her house debut as Katerina, highlighting the role’s intense vocal challenges.