San Francisco Frontiers - Milan's La Scala launches TV channel

The streaming programme will launch on February 14 with a live broadcast of Giuseppe Verdi's "Sicilian Vespers", but the first shows from the archive are available now.

"We want to be able to go into every house", wherever it is, including "the South American Pampas", a vast grassland extending from Argentina to the Andean foothills, said Scala director Dominique Meyer.

While the famous opera house will continue its partnership with Italian public broadcaster Rai, the new television channel will allow it "to decide ourselves what gets broadcast", he told a press conference.

The move follows many other opera houses around the world, from New York to Paris and Vienna, which have sought to target a wider audience or reinvent themselves after the coronavirus pandemic shut theatres for months on end.

Meyer launched a streaming platform in 2013 for the Vienna State Opera, where he was director from 2010 to 2020.

LaScala.tv is aimed at those "who already know and frequent the theatre, who will be able to rewatch performances they have already seen" and "catch up on those missed", the theatre said in a statement.

Prices range from 2.90 euros ($3.12) to 11.90 euros per performance, depending on the audio and video quality offered and the method of transmission, whether it is live or from the in-house archives.

It will be free for schools.

During the pandemic, La Scala was equipped with nine cameras for recording performances, and virtual spectators will now be able to go backstage during intermissions.

V.Perez--SFF