A superb luxury cast features in La Scala’s season-opening gala (the biggest event in the Italian musical calendar), Lluís Pasqual and maestro Riccardo Chailly’s highly-anticipated new staging of Verdi’s captivating story of political intrigue, love and betrayal. The opera revolves around the titular 16th-century crown prince of Spain (Francesco Meli), and his relationships with his father King Philip II (René Pape), his stepmother Queen Elisabeth of Valois (Anna Netrebko), and his close friend Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa (Luca Salsi).