As anybody who knows anything about opera knows, the new season in Milan always begins on 7 December (today), as it is the Feast Day of Sant Ambrogio, the patron saint of Milan. (I always find this confusing, because the school that my brother and many of my male friends attended was called St Ambrose, but this was a sneaky anticipation of the canonisation of St Ambrose Barlow, who, it seems isn't patron saint either of Chorlton or Astley).
The opening of the season at Milan is considered a Big Deal, and indeed can be seen at cinemas tonight in Covent Garden, Chelsea, Wimbledon, and the epicentre of operatic cinema, Ambleside. Tonight's performance is Carmen, with Jonas Kaufmann and Erwin Schrott in the leading male roles (a case of too much testosterone to be entirely healthy - hunkentenor and barihunk together: gosh that knife fight in the mountains will be quite something), the title role being taken by a mezzo unfamiliar to me.
Forty years ago the season also opened on 7 December.
Of course, back in those days, it was not possible to see such an event, not even in Ambleside, and, if the truth be told, I don't think my parents would have let me go if it had been possible!
The opera being performed was Ernani (a lovely Verdian work that IMO does not get performed as often as it should).
The lead that night was one of the emerging young (28 years old) stars of the opera world; to mark the occasion there will be a special gala on Wednesday, sadly not being shown in cinemas in Covent Garden, Chelsea, Wimbledon or even Ambleside.
The gala will consist mostly of Act I of Die Walküre. Kwanchul Youn, of whom I know little sings Hunding. Nina Stemme as Sieglinde ought to be worth hearing for its own sake (you will recall I found her Isolde to be one of the highlights of a highlight-packed year).
And the Siegmund is that one-time youthful erstwhile Ernani, Plácido Domingo.
Or to put it far more succinctly: Gran Galà alla Scala per festeggiare il tenore, che canta il primo atto della wagneriana «Die Walküre»
