A La Scala departure amid boos
French-born tenor Roberto Alagna walked off the La Scala opera house stage Sunday after some members of the audience booed him while he sang “Celeste Aida,” the opening aria of Verdi’s “Aida.”
Understudy Antonello Palombi, wearing jeans and a shirt, took over immediately. It was not clear why Alagna was booed at the venerable hall in Milan, Italy.
“I finished without the slightest error and from the balconies came a ‘Bravo!’, and right after the boos and whistles,” he told the Australian Herald Sun newspaper Monday.
On Tuesday, Alagna said he told La Scala he was ready to return to sing in the lavish Franco Zeffirelli’s production Thursday, but the opera house turned him down for breach of contract.
“They sent me a letter saying that the contract is annulled and that they are not going to pay my expenses,” Alagna said. “So I went to my lawyer today and we are going to sue them.”
The incident reportedly was a first in the 230-year history of the famed opera house.
--Chris Pasles
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