With performers infected, La Scala season premiere canceled

ROME » The Dec. 7 season premiere at Milan’s La Scala opera house, a gala event that is one of Italy’s cultural highlights, is being canceled after a rash of coronavirus infections among musicians and chorus members.

The theater’s board of directors concluded Wednesday that the status of the pandemic and Italy’s viruscontrol measures, which include the closure of theaters, did not allow for “achieving a production open to the public and of the level and with the characteristics required” for the premiere.

Politicians, business figures and other VIPs traditionally turn out for La Scala’s season premiere, an official holiday in Milan.