La Scala opens its season every 7 December, the feast of Sant'Ambrogio, Milan's patron. The Prima is a national event: broadcast live, attended by the president and the political class, reviewed as politics as much as music, and picketed outside by whichever cause has chosen the date — the demonstrations on the piazza are as traditional as the performance.
The theatre seats around two thousand. The broadcast reaches millions. Neither number is published as an attendance for the night, and we record none.
The date is fixed at 7 December and is sometimes listed in November. Tickets are released through a balloted sale well in advance at prices spanning an enormous range, and the loggione — the upper gallery occupied by the most demanding audience in opera — is where the evening is actually judged.
PlanningFixed on 7 December, the feast of Sant'Ambrogio — not November. Tickets are balloted far in advance.