The Teatro alla Scala orchestra (Italian: Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala) is the orchestra of the La Scala opera house in Milan, Italy. It was founded in 1778, performing on the opening night of La Scala with Antonio Salieri's Europa riconosciuta. It is one of the oldest continuously active orchestras in the world.
History
The orchestra has been present at La Scala since the opening of the theatre. Theater season, at the time of the theater's opening, was traditionally dominated by opera rather than chamber music or symphonic music. This so-called "melodrama disease", described by Gian Francesco Malipiero, meant the role of a permanent conductor was absent for a long time. Similar functions were carried out by the principal violinist acting as concertmaster, including Alessandro Rolla and Eugenio Cavallini, or by the harpsichord master, such as Vincenzo Lavigna, Giacomo Panizza, and Giovanni Bajetti.
Alberto Mazzucato became the first official music director of La Scala in 1854. The continued presence of major conductors, among them Arturo Toscanini, Victor de Sabata, Antonino Votto, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Herbert von Karajan, Guido Cantelli, Leonard Bernstein, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Carlo Maria Giulini, Carlos Kleiber, Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti, Daniel Barenboim, and Riccardo Chailly, has greatly contributed to the orchestra's international prestige.
thumb|Members of the Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala on the stage of the Piermarini auditorium.
The founding of the Filarmonica della Scala as an autonomous ensemble in 1982 significantly expanded the orchestra's symphonic activities.
Orchestra personnel
Strings
{| class="wikitable"
! First violins !! Second violins !! Violas !! Cellos !! Double basses
|-
| Francesco Manara (leader)
Francesco De Angelis (leader)
Laura Marzadori (leader)
Daniele Pascoletti (assistant leader)
Eriko Tsuchihashi (assistant leader)
Andrea Leporati
Rodolfo Cibin
Corine van Eikema
Andrea Pecolo
Gianluca Turconi
Elena Faccani
Fulvio Liviabella
Dino Sossai
Duccio Beluffi
Agnese Ferraro
Kaori Ogasawara
Enkeleida Sheshaj
Suela Piciri
Lucia Zanoni
Damiano Cottalasso
Evguenia Staneva
Indro Borreani
| Pierangelo Negri
Anna Longiave
Anna Salvatori
Emanuela Abriani
Gabriele Porfidio
Stefano Dallera
Roberto Nigro
Alexia Tiberghien
Stefano Lo Re
Antonio Mastalli
Francesco Tagliavini
Roberta Miseferi
Estela Shesi
Leila Negro
Olga Zakharova
Andrea Del Moro
| Simonide Braconi
Giuseppe Nastasi
Luciano Sangalli
Giorgio Baiocco
Maddalena Calderoni
Francesco Lattuada
Carlo Barato
Joel Imperial
Giuseppe Russo Rossi
Matteo Amadasi
Thomas Cavuoto
Eugenio Silvestri
Marcello Schiavi
Sabina Bakholdina
| Sandro Laffranchini
Massimo Polidori
Alfredo Persichilli
Martina Lopez
Gianluca Muzzolon
Gabriele Zanardi
Simone Groppo
Cosma Beatrice Pomarico
Massimiliano Tisserant
Tatiana Patella
Gabriele Garofano
Leonardo Duca
Francesco Martignon
| Giuseppe Ettorre
Francesco Siragusa
Emanuele Pedrani
Alessandro Serra
Attilio Corradini
Gaetano Siragusa
Roberto Benatti
Omar Lonati
Roberto Parretti
Claudio Nicotra
Michelangelo Mercuri
Giorgio Magistroni
|}
Winds and brass
{| class="wikitable"
! Flutes !! Oboes !! Clarinets !! Bassoons !! Horns !! Trumpets !! Trombones !! Tuba
|-
| Marco Zoni
Andrea Manco
Giovanni Paciello (piccolo)
Massimiliano Crepaldi
Francesco Guggiola
| Pedro Pereira De Sá
Augusto Mianiti
Gianni Viero
| Fabrizio Meloni
Aron Chiesa
Christian Chiodi Latini
Stefano Cardo (bass clarinet)
Antonio Duca (E-flat clarinet)
| Gabriele Screpis
Nicola Meneghetti
Maurizio Orsini
Marion Reinhard (contrabassoon)
| Giovanni Emanuele Urso
Roberto Miele
Claudio Martini
Salvatore La Porta
Stefano Curci
Piero Mangano
Giulia Montorsi
| Francesco Tamiati
Marco Toro
Gianni Dallaturca
Nicola Martelli
Valerio Vantaggio
| Daniele Morandini
Giuseppe Grandi
| Javier Castaño Medina
|}
Other instruments
{| class="wikitable"
! Harps !! Timpani !! Percussion !! Organ
|-
| Luisa Prandina
Olga Mazzia
| Andrea Bindi
Maxime Pidoux
| Gianni Massimo Arfacchia
Giuseppe Cacciola
Gerardo Capaldo
Francesco Muraca
| Lorenzo Bonoldi
|}
Selected discography
- Bellini – La sonnambula, Leonard Bernstein / Maria Callas, Warner
- Bellini – Norma, Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala / Maria Callas, Warner
- Cherubini – Medea, Leonard Bernstein / Maria Callas
- Donizetti – Anna Bolena, Gianandrea Gavazzeni / Maria Callas
- Puccini – La bohème, Riccardo Chailly / Gheorghiu / Alagna, Decca
- Verdi – Aida, Claudio Abbado / Plácido Domingo, Deutsche Grammophon
- Verdi – Requiem, Daniel Barenboim, Decca
- Rossini – Guillaume Tell, Riccardo Muti, Decca
See also
- Filarmonica della Scala
- La Scala Theatre Chorus
- La Scala Ballet
References
External links
- Official orchestra page