Italy's La Scala Opera House reopens to restricted audience after seven months

Italy’s La Scala opera house on May 10 reopened its doors to a restricted audience after seven months of shut down imposed by the coronavirus pandemic. On Monday night, the opera house welcomed 500 masked people with the concert of Scaligeri Choir and orchestra conducted by Riccardo Chailly. The performance came a day before the 75th anniversary of a historic concert in 1946 that celebrated the postwar reopening of La Scala which had been bombed three years earlier and rebuilt. 

The concert also marked the debut of 34-year-old Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen and it won a five-minute ovation and ended with an encore of Verdi’s “Va, Pensiero”. To respect social distancing, the musicians took over the ground floor seating area, while the audience was confined to the balconies. There was no intermission and the bars were also closed. Guests were treated to hydro-alcohol gel, as well as temperature checks and masks.

Italy’s COVID-19 restrictions 

Now, as the situation is gradually improving in the northern Lombardy region around Milan, La Scala is expected to unveil its new seasons this month. Italy had shut its theatres and concert halls last October in a bid to contain a resurgence of the pandemic after the summer. In April, the country, however, partially reopened most of its coffee bars, restaurants and cinemas. 

With declining COVID-19 cases and deaths, Italy is also assessing loosening lockdown measures and plans to lift quarantine restrictions for travellers arriving from European countries, Britain and Israel. Italy was the first European country to be hit by the COVID pandemic and has since then battled three resurges of the infection. As per the latest tally by Johns Hopkins University, the coastal state has registered over 123,282 deaths since the pandemic first stuck. The infection has also pushed the country’s into the worst recession since World War II with the economy contracting by 8.9 per cent last year. 

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