La Scala's season officially opens with the glittery la prima of Don Carlo on December 7.
But last night, inspired perhaps by the Royal Opera House's Sun reader special, there was an anteprima giovani: a special preview of Don Carlo for under-26s only.
1700 hundred tickets, marketed via Facebook, were priced at just 10 euros (compared with €2,000+ for December 7) and sold out in 6 hours.
The Italian papers are a bit sniffy about all the jeans'n'chucks on display. But they report (with some surprise) that the audience were quiet and attentive, clapped only in the right places, and applauded loudly at the end. Further evidence for my contention that it's the oldsters who cause all the trouble.
GM Stéphane Lissner is apparently so chuffed that something in the House of FIALS has actually run smoothly that he's planning to repeat the experiment in 2009 with Daniel Barenboim's Carmen. Diary date - December 4 2009.
Matti Salminen and Ferruccio Furlanetto at the dress rehearsal:
