Leonora

Teatro alla Scala celebrates the bicentenary of the death of Ludwig van Beethoven in many ways: entrusting some of the Symphonies to its Music Director, commissioning a new opera for children about the composer, and presenting in the Season, with the forces of the Academy, Leonora ossia l’amor coniugale by the Parmesan composer Ferdinando Paër. Leonora, whose libretto is derived from a work by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly alluding to the excesses of the Reign of Terror, premiered in Dresden in 1804; the following year Beethoven presented in Vienna his Fidelio, also derived from Bouilly, whose intended title was in fact Leonora. Overshadowed by Beethoven’s masterpiece, Leonora nevertheless remains a work of quality that helps illuminate the musical scene of the early nineteenth century. On the podium is Maestro Roland Böer, while the production is directed by the young Daniele Menghini, making his La Scala debut after winning the Italian Critics’ Abbiati Prize in 2026.