The Teatro alla Scala has unveiled its 2025–26 season, which marks Riccardo Chailly’s final year as Music Director. Appointed in 2015, Chailly will open his twelfth—and last—season on 7 December with Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, in a new production directed by Vasily Barkhatov.
The season features ten opera titles, including one new installment of Der Ring des Nibelungen, and a wide array of concerts. Chailly will lead three major programs: Lady Macbeth, a new staging of Verdi’s Nabucco, and Verdi’s Requiem, presented as part of the symphonic season.
A major season for opera
While the full Ring cycle was launched in 2024, the new staging of Götterdämmerung this season completes the tetralogy. Conductors Alexander Soddy and Simone Young share the podium, and David McVicar completes his directorial vision. The cast includes Michael Volle (Wotan), Camilla Nylund (Brünnhilde), Klaus Florian Vogt (Siegfried), Elza van den Heever (Sieglinde), Günther Groissböck (Hagen), and Nina Stemme (Waltraute).
In April, the season marks the centenary of Turandot’s world premiere at La Scala. The opera returns in Davide Livermore’s 2024 production, now under the baton of Nicola Luisotti, with Anna Pirozzi, Ewa Plonka, Roberto Alagna, and Angelo Villari.
One of the most anticipated debuts is that of Romeo Castellucci, who directs Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, conducted by Maxime Pascal. The cast includes Bernard Richter, Sara Blanch, and Simon Keenlyside. According to La Repubblica and other Italian media, Daniele Gatti was originally expected to conduct this production. A leading contender to succeed Chailly, his absence has been interpreted by some as a reaction to the recent appointment of Myung-Whun Chung as Music Director by La Scala’s new superintendent, Fortunato Ortombina.
Chung, now confirmed as Chailly’s successor, will conduct a new production of Bizet’s Carmen, co-produced with Covent Garden and Teatro Real. The staging by Damiano Michieletto features Clémentine Margaine, Stéphanie d’Oustrac, Vittorio Grigolo, and Matthew Polenzani..
Daniele Rustioni returns to La Scala to conduct Faust by Gounod, in a new production by Johannes Erath with Marina Rebeka and Vittorio Grigolo. Other revivals include Lucia di Lammermoor, led by Speranza Scappucci with Rosa Feola, and La traviata in Liliana Cavani’s staging, with Nadine Sierra and Michele Gamba.
Nabucco will see Anna Netrebko as Abigaille and Luca Salsi in the title role, under Chailly’s direction in a new production by Alessandro Talevi.
Concert season and guest artists
The symphonic season opens with Daniel Barenboim and includes appearances by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Michele Mariotti, Daniele Rustioni, and Myung-Whun Chung. Chailly’s Requiem joins the lineup as a special concert.
International guests include the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra with Sir Simon Rattle, the Budapest Festival Orchestra with Iván Fischer, the Czech Philharmonic with Semyon Bychkov, and the Monteverdi Choir with Christophe Rousset.
Among the featured soloists are Juan Diego Flórez, Marina Rebeka, Jakub Józef Orliński, Francesco Meli, Luca Salsi, Benjamin Bernheim, and pianists Beatrice Rana, Yefim Bronfman, Hélène Grimaud, Arcadi Volodos, and Rudolf Buchbinder.
A season of transition
With Chailly’s departure and the arrival of Chung, La Scala’s 2025–26 season signals a clear moment of transition. While the program reflects the legacy of its outgoing director, it also outlines the theatre’s artistic direction ahead of its 250th anniversary in 2028.
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