26 Jan-10 Feb 2006. Conducted by Riccardo Chailly, directed by Gilbert Deflo, with Leo Nucci, Andrea Rost and Marcelo lvarez.

The new year opens with two productions that look interesting and could hold some surprises. Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi will be performed at the Teatro alla Scala (26 Jan-10 Feb). The production bears the signature of the director Gilbert Deflo and benefits from the grand scenery of Ezio Frigerio and the sumptuous costumes of Franca Squarciapino. The production was staged at the Scala in 1994 and has been repeated over the years on different occasions: most recently in March 2001 to mark the centenary of the death of Verdi. In that version there were two singers who will be present in the current one: Andrea Rost, a musically and vocally precise soprano, and Leo Nucci, considered one of the most authoritative interpreters of the role of Rigoletto. New to the cast is Marcelo lvarez, a tenor with a beautiful voice and great stage presence. But all attention and curiosity will be focused on the podium: the conductor is Riccardo Chailly, returning to the Scala after a long absence with the very work with which he began his career as a conductor of opera in Chicago 30 years ago.