Curated by Francesco Stocchi
Setub by Margherita Palli

From Friday, November 17, 2023 to Monday, September 16, 2024, Teatro alla Scala presents the new exhibition “Fantasmagoria Callas,” curated by Francesco Stocchi with staging by Margherita Palli and dedicated to soprano Maria Callas (New York, December 2, 1923 - Paris, September 16, 1977) at the Museo Teatrale alla Scala, as part of the CALLAS 100 program.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of her birth, La Scala Theater pays tribute to Maria Callas with an exhibition designed to celebrate her legend, evoking the indelible imprint she left on the collective imagination. The legacy of the soprano, who knew how to combine singing and acting in a unique blend that consigned her to history as a timeless icon, is the protagonist of an exhibition that restores the portrait of a complete artist, deeply linked to the history of La Scala, which saw her perform 23 opera titles in 28 performances from 1950 to 1961, including six season openings.

The title of the exhibition refers to the theatrical form of “phantasmagoria,” which traditionally deploys stage illusions to recreate phantasmal effects and supernatural visions, to restore the impression of the many traces, influences and testimonies that Maria Callas has been able to inspire over time.

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The exhibition builds an itinerary divided into five stages where each chapter is entrusted to a different artistic expression. Through the interpretations of fashion designer Giorgio Armani, musician and composer Alvin Curran, contemporary artists Latifa Echakhch and Francesco Vezzoli, and recording artist Mario Martone, the figure of Maria Callas emerges from a choral and multidisciplinary narrative designed especially for the occasion.

Explains Francesco Stocchi, curator of the exhibition, “These portraits represented in the Museo Teatrale alla Scala cultivate the vivid beauty, power and emotion of Maria Callas as the ‘divine.’ Her intensity on stage and commitment to her art earned the Greek soprano a reputation as an unwavering perfectionist. Callas's true heir is Callas herself. Her temperament, charisma and voice imbued with eternity, have outlined the traits of the 20th century diva.”

The exhibition tour then plunges into the five-voice score designed for the occasion and inaugurated by the intervention of musician and composer Alvin Curran. Focusing his attention on Maria Callas' voice as the founding element of her figure, Curran constructs an unprecedented musical composition drawn from the vast collection of recordings and conceived to restore the layers of timbre that has always been the soprano's stylistic signature.

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It continues with artist Latifa Echakhch's installation, which delves into the aspect of Maria Callas' stage presence. Beyond a curtain of red and white pearls, the soprano's ghostly silhouette is revealed to the visitor, rendered as a vision of beauty and fragility beyond a curtain that evokes the elements of tears and blood.

The third chapter of the exhibition is narrated by director Mario Martone, who focuses on the meeting between Maria Callas and Ingeborg Bachmann, which took place in Milan in 1956 during a rehearsal of La Traviata. The filmic performance, interpreted by Sonia Bergamasco, recounts the impact the meeting had on the Austrian writer and poetess and creates a deeply human portrait of the soprano figure, told not as a diva to be idolized but as a profound and singular personality.

This is followed by the interpretation of artist Francesco Vezzoli, who presents an installation where Maria Callas' face, laser-printed on canvas, is repeated sixty-three times. Each frame is enriched with light blue metallic embroidery that recalls the idea of make-up, constructing a reflection on the soprano's stage face and the intimate relationship she built with the characters she was called upon to interpret.

The exhibition tour closes with designer Giorgio Armani's interpretation of Maria Callas' voice in visual form. Created for the Giorgio Armani Privé collection of 2021, the magenta-red evening gown presented in the exhibition combines fabric and body in a representation of intensity and grace.

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“Fantasmagoria Callas” opens with a selection of costumes that the soprano wore over time, currently preserved at the Teatro alla Scala Historical Archives. They testify to the influence that Maria Callas has always exerted on the arts the brown silk dress made by Pietro Zuffi for Alceste and the two costumes designed by Nicola Benois for Poliuto and Don Carlo, up to the one painted by Salvatore Fiume for Medea in 1953.  The Theatre Tailoring course of the Accademia Teatro alla Scala paid tribute to Maria Callas by reconstructing two of the costumes that the soprano wore in La traviata signed by Luchino Visconti for the 1954/'55 season, designed by Lila de Nobili and lost under unclear circumstances. The costumes on display were made by drawing on iconographic material from the La Scala Archives and the direct testimony of Anna Gastel-Chiarelli, the director's niece.

Completing the exhibition is the documentary, directed by Francesca Molteni and editorially curated by Mattia Palma, which recounts the five projects and the making of the exhibition, through the voices of Giorgio Armani, Alvin Curran, Latifa Echakhch, Mario Martone and Francesco Vezzoli.

Resuming the reflection inaugurated by the exhibition “Maria Callas on Stage. Gli anni della Scala,” curated by Margherita Palli in the spaces of the Museo Teatrale alla Scala from September 2017 to January 2018, ‘Fantasmagoria Callas’ realizes an unprecedented dialogue between different art forms, invited to confront the fascination of an immortal icon such as Maria Callas.

Special thanks go to the Partners who made the exhibition possible: American Express, which has an unwavering commitment to concretely supporting art and culture in its many forms, and LaCimbali with MUMAC, Cimbali Group's Coffee Machine Museum, whose synergy of cultural intentions with the Theater and its Museum reaches its eighth year of collaboration. Thanks are due to Kartell for setting up the Museum's rooms and for creating a special Louis Ghost, a unique piece dedicated to Maria Callas. Technology partner of the exhibition is Samsung.