Les Contes d'Hoffmann.

This review focuses on a production of Jacques Offenbach’s opera *Les Contes d’Hoffmann* at La Scala, Milan, directed by Davide Livermore. The staging is noted for its inventive, predominantly black-and-white visual design and symbolic use of dancers as demons, reflecting themes of love’s tragic outcomes and the composer’s impending death. Vittorio Grigolo’s performance as Hoffmann was vocally assured, while Marina Viotti, singing Nicklausse and the Muse, was praised despite a slight indisposition. However, the three female leads faced challenges in vocal agility and power, compounded by uneven orchestral playing under conductor Frederic Chaslin. Overall, the production is described as imaginative but marked by uneven artistic standards.