For the centennial of the composer’s death, Riccardo Chailly and renowned theatre director Irina Brook bring to La Scala a colourful new production of Puccini’s bittersweet love story. The story follows the swallow (or rondine) of the title, Magna (Mariangela Sicilia), a kept woman who defies convention to chase a dream of romantic love with Ruggero (Matteo Lippi), an earnest, if naïve, young man. The central relationship unfolds in colourful locales in Paris and the south of France, all evoked with superb musical details. The agonizing desperation of the melancholic score, runs under a surface of sublime elegance.