Thousands flock to Tel Aviv park for La Scala performance

Milan's La Scala opera company performed a free open-air concert of Verdi's Requiem Thursday evening in Tel Aviv's Yarkon Park (Ganei Yehoshua) as part of the city's 100th anniversary celebrations.

View La Scala in the park in a larger map

Daniel Barenboim conducted the performance.

Expecting enormous traffic jams, police requested that people attending the performance take public transportation, and the Israel Railways also increased capacity both before and after the performance. The gates opened to the public at 7 P.M.

While lawn admittance was free, paid seating was also available. A few thousand seats were sold in advance, including a number of so-called VIP chairs near the stage at NIS 1,500 each.

The performers include Italian soprano Adriana Damato and tenor Giuseppe Filianoti, as well as German bass Rene Pape, along with some 220 singers and musicians. This is the first visit to Israel for all the soloists.

The concert was held on a huge open-air stage, with a backdrop replicating La Scala's famous Milan opera house, and was to end with a massive fireworks display.

La Scala musicians and singers appeared Wednesday afternoon in front of dozens of patients and staff at the Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv. The hour-long "light classical" concert included a song in Hebrew.

La Scala performed the opera Aida on Tuesday at the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center, its first show ever in Israel, and the first time it has performed Verdi's Aida outside of Italy.