The Dutch National Opera Academy is a two-year master's programme for highly talented young opera singers, focusing on the integration of singing and acting. It is a partnership of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and the Royal Conservatoire the Hague.

During the Bredeweg Festival, DNOA plays La Scala Di Seta in the open air, as part of the programme: Opera on the Street. The unique setting on the street allows you to be introduced to opera in a low-threshold way, and there is direct and playful contact with the audience. The different characters know they are being watched and will try to win over the audience.

Rossini wrote La Scala di Seta (the silk ladder) when he was only 20 years old. The virtuoso quartets, rousing finales, and beautiful arias from his later work are already clearly recognisable. As is a comic plot full of commedia del arte influences about real people; about their dreams and their shortcomings. The youthful broodiness of La scala di seta will be fully felt in this new staging in Bredeweg's open-air setting.

We meet six characters: Dormont, the gentleman of the house and guardian of his 2 nieces (Giulia and Lucilla), whom he prefers to see move out of the house and get married as soon as possible. Giulia, our protagonist, raised in a golden cage and yearning for freedom of choice. Especially when it comes to love! Without Dormont's knowledge, she is already married: to Dorvil. Dorvil is an unsuspecting romantic with a jealous streak. We see Blansac, a self-righteous flirt, Giulia's intended fiancée, who will get a lesson in realism. And Lucilla, just blindly in love with just that Blansac. And finally, Germano, the servant. In the original, an old drunk. In our version, an overzealous young man, who makes one mistake after another out of his continuous need to prove himself. In terms of content, the urge for autonomy prevails. A lifelong desire for self-determination: making one's own choices outside the norms and conventions of a particular time. The tragedy of this comedy is that nobody means any harm but everything constantly goes wrong. Until Giulia goes full steam ahead with her choices and finds that the others are more willing to listen than she thought.