Teatro alla Scala - The Temple of Wonders

Director: Luca Lucini

Narrator: Lux Ádám
With special appearances by Stéphane Lissner, Daniel Barenboim, Plácido Domingo, Raina Kabaivanska, Alexander Pereira, Luciana Savignano, Fiorenza Cossotto, Roberto Bolle, Leo Nucci, Mirella Freni, Francesco Maria Colombo, Marcello Sirotti, Carlo Fontana, Giovanni Gavazzeni, Franco Pulcini, Riccardo Chailly, Mario Botta, Marco Contini, Alessandra Ferri, Carla Fracci

Unprecedented access to one of the most exclusive temples of performing arts in the world and its fascinating story. A “place of spirits”, in which past, present and future intersect as in a wonder factory, where men craft their skills to produce art in its highest form.

Teatro alla Scala – The Temple of Wonders is an exclusive documentary shoot in 4K,  a journey through time and space to discover a marvellous place, where the most glorious pages in the history of music, opera and ballet have been written.

“Can you hear them? Here dwell the spirits of the great artists of the past”. One of the leading theatrical impresarios of all time, Paolo Grassi, said this of the Teatro alla Scala, and this is what still makes this place unique the world ver, a veritable Wunderkammer, and much more than this, a Wonder Temple.

 Built between 1776 and 1778, the year of its inauguration, the Teatro alla Scala in Milan has drawn major artists from the international music scene, turning immediately into the theatre of reference, he one every artist aspires to, the Mecca of music. To this day, performing at the Scala means consecrating a career in the eyes of the world.

Music critic John Gavazzeni wrote: “The pillars of world Opera repertoire are Italian: Verdi, Puccini, Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini – composers whose works have been performed the most all over the world. The symbol of all great conductors is an Italian, Arturo Toscanini. They were all launched or consecrated in one place: at the ‘Teatro alla Scala’, as well as the areers of great sopranos like Renata Tebaldi and Maria Callas, and of directors like Visconti, Zeffirelli and Strehler”.

Yet, La Scala, in its time, was much more than this. It was a lively place where, at the same time, people in the stalls and galleries would gather to gamble and talk about politics, literature and general chit chat while, on stage, emotions were played out in full. The same emotions, absorbed by those velvet drapes, and by the wooden panels of the stage, are still alive today and blossom every night, the very moment the lights are dimmed, the audience is quiet, and the performance begins.

There is one particular day when all this becomes a sacred ritual: December 7th, feast day of St. Ambrose, patron saint of Milan, which since 1951 has also always been the day of the ‘Prima’. The exclusiv , fashionable soirée that launches the new Opera and Ballet season: an unparalleled event of extraordinary, worldwide prominence.

By following day-to-day preparations and the frantic activities of the staff, leading to the much awaited 7th December, our journey takes us into the main, living body of the theater, where every room, every corridor and every corner breathes 237 years of history – a real treat for the viewer, a wonderful succession of discoveries and revelations.

La Scala is a treasure trove of fascinating, timeless stories where rare archival footage intertwines with interviews with the major players on the international art and music scene, such as Daniel Barenboim, Roberto Bolle, Riccardo Chailly, Placido Domingo, Carla Fracci, Zubin Mehta, José Carreras and Riccardo Muti, to name but a few.

This is the theatre where absolute masterpieces came to life such as Nabucco, Norma, Othello, and which hosted, in the fifties, Luchino Visconti’s scandalous, cutting-edge Traviata featuring Maria Callas. I is the place were historical ises en scènes have taken place and where extraordinary voices have been immortalized, such as those of Placido Domingo, Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi, Mirella Freni and Luciano Pavarotti, as well as incredible performances by legendary conductors such as Arturo Toscanini, Daniel Barenboim, Riccardo Muti and Claudio Abbado.