From 1 September, the Milan opera house is offering free access, after registration, to a growing digital catalogue that includes 44 opera productions, eight ballets and 26 concerts.
Teatro alla Scala has made its streaming platform LaScalaTV free to access, opening a substantial part of the Milan opera house’s audiovisual archive to audiences worldwide.
From 1 September 2026, all content on the platform is available free of charge following registration, replacing the paid model under which LaScalaTV had operated since its launch in 2023. The initiative is supported by Intesa Sanpaolo, the platform’s principal sponsor.
Over its first three years, LaScalaTV has assembled an archive comprising 31 recent opera productions and 13 historic opera recordings, as well as eight ballets, 26 concerts and a range of documentaries, educational programmes and other material. Several of the historic performances come from RAI’s archives, reflecting the broadcaster’s 50-year collaboration with La Scala.
The catalogue brings together performances by many of the artists closely associated with the theatre. Conductors represented include Riccardo Chailly, Myung-Whun Chung, Daniele Gatti, Thomas Guggeis, Fabio Luisi, Susanna Mälkki, Christophe Rousset, Speranza Scappucci, Simone Young and Lorenzo Viotti, alongside historic performances conducted by Claudio Abbado and Riccardo Muti.
Productions include work by Robert Carsen, Davide Livermore, Christof Loy, Mario Martone, David McVicar, Luca Ronconi, Giorgio Strehler, Graham Vick, Deborah Warner and Franco Zeffirelli. Singers represented include Eleonora Buratto, Anna Netrebko, Camilla Nylund, Lisette Oropesa, Sondra Radvanovsky, Marina Rebeka, Sonya Yoncheva, Roberto Alagna, Benjamin Bernheim, Vittorio Grigolo, Francesco Meli and Luca Salsi.
The move does not turn LaScalaTV solely into a historical archive. The platform will continue to add recent productions and offer streams connected with La Scala’s current activity.
Two recordings join the catalogue on 1 September: Florian Leopold Gassmann’s L’opera seria, performed at La Scala in 2025 under Christophe Rousset in a production by Laurent Pelly, and Mozart’s Requiem, conducted by Thomas Guggeis in 2024.
Future additions will include Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder, conducted by Chailly in 2024, and Wagner’s Götterdämmerung, conducted by Simone Young in David McVicar’s production. The latter will complete La Scala’s recent Ring cycle on the platform.
LaScalaTV was conceived during the pandemic and launched in 2023. Nine remotely operated cameras installed inside the Piermarini theatre allow La Scala to film operas, ballets and concerts live and subsequently retain the recordings in its digital catalogue.
According to ANSA, however, the platform never achieved significant take-up as a subscription service. La Scala is now positioning the free service as part of a broader strategy to expand access to its artistic heritage and current productions.
The initiative complements other outreach programmes run by the theatre, including its Cultural Promotion Service, which brings more than 100,000 spectators to performances each year at reduced prices, and Spazio Scala, which offers more than 100 free talks and other events.
The platform will also continue to feature upcoming La Scala performances. Its current programme includes Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore on 16 September, a concert conducted by Daniele Rustioni on 25 September and Gounod’s Faust, also conducted by Rustioni, on 8 November.
The LaScalaTV catalogue and programme can be explored through The LaScalaTV catalogue and programme can be explored through La Scala’s official website.
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