The Teatro alla Scala in Milan, one of the world’s most prestigious and storied opera houses, announced Tuesday that its next leader would be Fortunato Ortombina, who is currently general director of Venice’s opera house, Teatro La Fenice. Ortombina will succeed Dominique Meyer, a respected French impresario who has run La Scala since 2020 and who previously led the Vienna State Opera. “A decision has finally been reached,” Mayor Giuseppe Sala of Milan, who is the chairman of the foundation that runs the opera house, said Tuesday after a board meeting. The appointment of Ortombina ended months of speculation and whispers in the opera world. “After three foreign general directors, Stéphane Lissner, Alexander Pereira and Dominique Meyer, an Italian returns to La Scala,” he said in a statement, which noted that the practice of Italian opera singing had recently been added to UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list.

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Persons: Fortunato Ortombina, Ortombina, Dominique Meyer, Giuseppe Sala of, Gennaro Sangiuliano, “, Stéphane Lissner, Alexander Pereira, ” Organizations: Scala, Teatro La Fenice, La Scala, Vienna State Opera, ” Locations: Milan, French, Giuseppe Sala of Milan