1984 (opera) like an overblown film soundtrack than the meaty orchestration of an opera," the production "effectively conjures up the dispiriting emptiness of Orwell's awful vision. The unusual and inspired choice of a baritone, Simon Keenlyside, for the lead role of Winston, lends the work a darker edge." The Spanish newspaper "La Vanguardia" praised Maazel by stating "the maestro knows a lot of music and he shows it, just as he shows his prowess in orchestral and vocal work." The opera's Royal Opera House engagement was sold out, as was a later engagement at La Scala in Milan, Italy. The production was
Santa Maria la Scala Santa Maria la Scala Santa Maria la Scala is a Baroque style church in a Piazzetta of the same name in Naples, Italy. The complex was built in 1054, when merchants of the town of Scala in the peninsula of Sorrento, traded with Neapolitans, thus were granted a plot which then stood outside the city walls, to erect a church complex. By the 15th century, the church stood inside the walls of the city. As trade between Naples and Scala declined, the church fell in disuse. The church was reconstructed in the 17th and 18th century as the home of