The Academy

When Verdi was refused entry to the Milan Conservatory, he took up lessons with Vincenzo Lavigna, a composer employed by La Scala. In a similar vein, it is within the theatre rather than the lecture hall that students of La Scala’s Academy acquire their experience.

The Academy is unique in the world for training the whole gamut of professionals that work in the world of opera. Its 1,600 students include singers, ballet dancers, instrumentalists, set designers, makeup artists, lighting designers, managers, fundraisers and much more.

According to opera expert Fred Plotkin, the Academy is the “jewel in [La Scala’s] crown”. No wonder, when some of the industry’s biggest stars, from Pretty Yende to Roberto Bolle, have come through its ranks.

The Academy stages an opera

The main fixtures of the academic year are the Academy Projects. These productions and concerts are realised almost exclusively by Academy students.

In 2018, the Academy staged Cherubini’s opera Alì Babà e i quaranta ladroni for the first time at La Scala since 1963.

Academy recruits -- including solo singers, ballet students, répétiteurs, sound technicians, photographers and musicians in the orchestra and chorus -- totalled 190 and hailed from 14 nations. Film director Liliana Cavani’s production oozed Oriental grandeur. Dancers in dishdashas and turbans brandished scimitars; "Ali Baba" scrambled over a mountain of trinkets and jewels. Sweeping arches framed a backdrop bathed in blue light.

Ballet at the Academy

To mark Milan’s 2015 Expo, the Academy toured a production of Prokofiev's ballet Cenerentola choreographed by Ballet School director Frédéric Olivieri. 100 dancers and 76 players were joined by 60 additional Academy students behind the scenes (tailors, hair and makeup specialists, wig makers, set designers and photographers).

Enormous pans clattered above the stage, the "Prince" sported a gleaming white suit and "Cinderella" made her entrance in a giant golden apple. After opening at Milan's Piccolo Teatro in 2015, the production travelled to Brescia's Teatro Grande that year, as well as Genoa's Teatro Carlo Felice, Pavia's Teatro Fraschini and Lublin in Poland the following year. In 2017, the production premiered at La Scala.

The Academy is born

Perturbed by an apparent dearth in young talent that had previously cut its teeth in Italy’s provincial theatres, Riccardo Muti and superintendent Carlo Fontana founded the Academy of Lyric Opera in 1997. Students received full training from seasoned professionals Renato Bruson, Mirella Freni, Luciana Serra, and attended masterclasses with Shirley Verrett, Christa Ludwig, Leo Nucci and Ruggero Raimondi. Turkish star soprano Leyla Gencer directed the department until her death in 2008.

The next step was even more ambitious. In a project masterminded by Fontana, the Lyric Academy, the Ballet School and the various training courses La Scala had run since the 1990s, including those for tailors and opera coaches, were combined to form the Academy in 2001. In 2014, Alexander Pereira launched the hugely-successful "Grandi Spettacoli per Piccoli" opera series for children, entrusting all performances to the Academy.

But La Scala’s didactic traditions stretch much further back in time. The ballet school was born as the Imperial Regia Accademia di Ballo in 1813, while the Scuola dei Cadetti della Scala, the forebear of the Lyric Academy, was created by Arturo Toscanini in 1950.

The Academy’s stars

Illustrious ballet alumni include Carla Fracci, Luciana Savignano, Roberto Bolle and Massimo Murru. And numerous former vocal students -- such as Serena Farnocchia, Carmen Giannattasio, Anja Kampe, Irina Lungu, Nino Machaidze, Pretty Yende, Federica Lombardi, Anita Rachvelishvili, Aya Wakizono, Sonia Prina, Leonardo Cortellazzi, Azer Zada, Massimo Cavalletti and Christian Senn -- have gone on to enjoy stellar careers.

A cultural ambassador

"La Scala is the most famous Italian brand after Ferrari. It is in high demand all over the world," declared superintendent Alexander Pereira in 2019.

When abroad the Academy acts as an ambassador, not only to La Scala and Milan, but also to Italy. In 2019, it performed in countries including Lebanon, Switzerland, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Algeria. A trip to Shanghai in the same year marked the 40th-anniversary year of the twinning between Milan and Shanghai.

Cultural cooperation

In Shanghai, Peter Stein’s production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte for the Academy formed part of La Scala’s ongoing bid to aid China in developing its own "opera for children" series. Further “Cultural Cooperation” projects have seen Academy teachers posted to Romania, Colombia, Brazil, Serbia, Kazakhstan, Chile and Uruguay.