Extreme Sex

Set in the aftermath of a nuclear war,
the first performance of
Luca Francesconi's 'Quartett'
is reviewed by GIUSEPPE PENNISI

The Teatro alla Scala has a rather traditional, or more appropriately, conservative audience. Thus, its effective and efficient press office had gently prepared the opening night elegant crowd for the shock of the world premiere of Luca Francesconi's Quartett on 26 April 2011 -- just in the middle of the Easter Holiday when Parsifal or other 'spiritual' and/or 'holy' operas are normally on stage in major European opera houses. Francesconi's latest work for the stage was commissioned by the Teatro alla Scala in co-production with the Vienna Festwochen, English National Opera and Amsterdam Opera, but it was booked by other theatres (mostly French and American) even before its world premiere. A clear signal that sex attracts audience even in electronic acoustics and in eighty minutes of dense text (in English) and music.

Quartett is based on a widely performed play by Heiner Müller, one of the twentieth century's most important avant-garde playwrights...

LA SCALA

MILAN

ITALY