Opera Lombardia is a cultural excellence of our region. Promoted, supported and coordinated by the Local Authority Department of which I am honoured to be in charge, it represents a virtuous example of collaboration among the organizations with the aim to increasingly expand the audience of musical theatre productions, supporting the spreading of opera in the various Lombardy territories, with special attention being paid to the new generations and to the development of the careers of young artists and the young workforce. Opera Lombardia has thus created a circuit of coproduction, distribution and promotion of opera performances that unites five cities and their important traditional theatres: the Grande di Brescia, the Sociale of Como, the Ponchielli of Cremona, the Fraschini of Pavia and the Donizetti of Bergamo. The virtuous system created by Opera Lombardia – which also receives a substantial donation from Fondazione Cariplo – enables to contain production costs considerably, while guaranteeing a billboard that is always of the highest quality and of an international level. Opera Lombardia also succeeds in its enterprise thanks to the collaboration of two fundamental Lombardy cultural institutions: the prestigious Orchestra of Pomeriggi Musicali of Milan, which celebrates its 75th season this year, and the most famous opera house in the world, the Teatro alla Scala. Opera Lombardia is therefore an extraordinary ‘choral’ effort that, in addition to the passion of the Lombardy people for opera, also stages two strengths of our Region: the pluralism and wealth represented by the traditional theatres and an undeniable vocation for collaboration that translates into a great ability to form a team.
Stefano Bruno Galli
Councilor for Autonomy and Culture Regione Lombardia Lombardy Region
