The Conductors: Daniel Barenboim

Daniel Barenboim (2011–2014)

Stéphane Lissner, La Scala’s first non-Italian superintendent, ushered in a more outward-looking era. Daniel Barenboim, who had enamoured Milan with a formidable account of Beethoven's Symphony no. 9 in 2005, was appointed “maestro scaligero” the next year, and music director in 2011.

Wagner’s star ascends

During Barenboim’s tenure, Wagner reigned supreme. In 2007 he inaugurated the season with a historic production of Tristan und Isolde with Waltraud Meier as "Isolde" that marked Patrice Chéreau's return to La Scala.

In 2012, in preparation for the following year’s bicentenary celebrations of both Verdi and Wagner’s births, La Scala opened the season with Wagner’s Lohengrin in a remarkable production by Claus Guth with Jonas Kaufmann arousing a nationalist protest that echoed nineteenth-century controversy.

Opening the successive season in 2013, the actual bicentennial of the birth of Verdi, with La traviata conducted by Daniele Gatti partly appeased disgruntled audiences.

Thereafter, Barenboim conducted all four Ring cycle operas. The creation of the complete cycle with the same conductor and director represented a historical reparation for the theatre in which the previous versions conducted by Muti and Sawallisch had undergone changes and interruptions.

There was also room for Verdi. In 2009, the conductor took to the podium for a revival of Franco Zeffirelli’s huge production of Aida.

The following year, Barenboim conducted Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra. Barenboim also presented as conductor and pianist a complete cycle of Beethoven's symphonies, concerts and sonatas.

When Claudio Abbado died in 2014, Barenboin led La Scala’s traditional tribute to deceased conductors. Thousands gathered in Piazza della Scala on a cold January evening; the funeral march from Beethoven's Eroica symphony floated out from the empty auditorium through the theatre’s open doors. Broadcast on national television, it was the first event to be live streamed by La Scala.