After Rome, are we really going to listen to a performance from Milan as well?! Yes! Provided there is no further strike at Teatro alla Scala, we will have the opportunity to hear, live, the new production of Charles Gounod's opera Faust from Milan. We missed the premiere on October 20^th, when an employees' strike took place, but the European Broadcasting Union immediately managed to arrange another broadcast, selecting the evening scheduled for the final performance in this series. Thus, I am inviting you to a new special edition of the programme ''Opera, a World'', to listen to a performance that is part of the last new production of the 2025-2026 season, which is still underway in Milan. It is a co-production by Teatro alla Scala, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, Fundació de la Comunitat Valenciana, Staatsoper Unter den Linden and Teatro Real, Madrid (the production will travel to the partner theatres after its run in Italy).

And while, on our first attempt, we would have broadcast alongside our Latvian colleagues (Marina Rebeka's fellow countrymen), this time Radio România Muzical remains the only station within the European Broadcasting Union to broadcast the performance scheduled for November 8^th live.

The cast brings together some of the biggest names in opera today: soprano Marina Rebeka as Marguerite, bass-baritone Alex Esposito as Méphistophélès, tenor Vittorio Grigolo as Faust, mezzo-soprano Marcela Rahal as Siebel, baritone Ernesto Petti as Valentin, mezzo-soprano Hyeonsol Park (a student at the Teatro alla Scala Academy) as Marthe, and bass Xhieldo Hyseni as Wagner. They will be joined by the theatre's Chorus and Orchestra.

The musical direction is entrusted to conductor Daniele Rustioni - at 43, the Milan-born musician already holds an impressive list of titles: Principal Guest Conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Principal Guest Conductor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Music Director Emeritus of the Lyon Opera, Honorary Music Director of the Ulster Orchestra and Conductor Emeritus of the Orchestra della Toscana in Florence.

A grand opera in five acts, Faust was composed by Gounod to a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, which was itself inspired by Part I of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's masterpiece Faust. The opera received its world premiere in 1859 at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris. At the time, the recitatives were spoken rather than sung (they were set to music later), Valentin's famous aria did not yet exist (it was composed in 1864 for baritone Charles Santley, who performed in London productions in English; it was subsequently translated and incorporated into the French-language score), and the grand ballet - the Walpurgis Night - had not yet been written either (it was created in 1869, specifically for the premiere at the Paris Opéra Garnier). Although Valentin's aria is no longer treated as an optional number in the score, the final ballet is still frequently omitted from modern productions. This is due to directors who do not want a piece of "entertainment" interrupting the dramatic flow. Will this also be the case in Milan, considering that the ballet company is not listed in the programme? We shall see!

Looking back at the history of this title, I should also mention that Faust was first performed at the MET in 1883, but in Italian and in an abridged version. The complete version was not presented until 1965. At La Scala, the opera was staged in 1862, just three years after its French premiere. I cannot fail to mention some remarkable Romanian artists who appeared in Milan productions: soprano Elena Teodorini (Marguerite) in the 1879-1880 season, marking the debut of the then 22-year-old singer on this prestigious stage (the first Romanian woman to perform at La Scala), and baritone Nicolae Herlea (Valentin) in the 1966 production, which marked his first appearance in Milan. (His fellow performers included legendary artists Mirella Freni, Nicolai Gedda and bass Nicolai Ghiaurov.)

The opera Faust remained in the repertoire and was beloved by Italian audiences. Yet, there has already been an enormous gap: the work has been absent from La Scala's repertoire since 2010. The new production brings Rustioni back to the orchestra pit (as he approaches the end of his tenure in Lyon) after a considerable absence; the Milan-born conductor had not conducted at his home theatre since 2014. German director Johannes Erath (a musician by training and a former violinist in the orchestra of the Vienna Volksoper) makes his La Scala debut on this occasion. Among his previous achievements, I would mention his production of the opera Ermione, created in 2024 for the Rossini Opera Festival, which was awarded Best Production at the Abbiati Awards presented by Italy's association of music critics. In his interpretation, Faust takes place... at a circus! (Méphistophélès alternates between the roles of an animal trainer or dressed as a Pope; Valentin is a clown; Marguerite has doubles or shadows; and the stage features people on stilts, Columbines and other circus figures! Etc.)

Once again, we have an advantage - we can enjoy Gounod's music without any distractions.

Therefore, I invite you to tune in on Sunday, November 8^th, at 8:30 p.m., for a special edition of Radio România Muzical's Opera, a World, to follow Faust, the grand opera by Charles Gounod, live from Teatro alla Scala in Milan.