la gioconda was written in the 18705 by italian composer ponchielli. it means "the happy woman." but in fact, it's a tragic story of a young heroine in 17th century venice who sacrifices her life to save her true love, the sea captain, enzo. dominique mayer runs la scala. he says it's important to take a gamble with an opera like la gioconda. i think, first of all, it's very difficult to find the right performance to do it. and of course, it's also maybe more difficult to sell out because people like very well—known operas. but ourjob is also to bring unknown operas or less known operas into the theatres. of course, it's a great help to have a great star. but first of all, we are looking for the right performer.