Obituary: Former Teatro alla Scala Casting Director Luca Targetti Dies of Coronavirus

By Francisco Salazar

Luca Targetti has died at the age of 62 from the coronavirus.

The Teatro alla Scala announced the new via a press release that stated, “Sovrintendente Dominique Meyer, Music Director Riccardo Chailly, all the artists and staff of Teatro alla Scala together with the Academy Teatro alla Scala have learnt with dismay of Luca Targetti’s sudden passing after a short illness. Luca Targetti was responsible for the singing companies of Teatro alla Scala for thirteen years from 1997 and then for international relations of the Academy before successfully returning to the agency where he started his career. His competence and sensitivity, diplomacy and sense of humor, always clear correctness and generosity have made him a reference point for artistic directions, famous artists and young talents he accompanied in the first steps of his career, but also for everyone Those who worked in the theater have enjoyed their professionalism and joy together.”

Meyer remembered him by noting, “He was a friend of mine for more than twenty years. We used to see each other regularly when we participated in singing contest juries and every time we stayed talking for a long time: Luca always knew how to combine seriousness and fun. His disappearance is an important loss for the world of work, but today we think first of all about the pain of the many people who met him and have been his friends.”

Targetti graduated cum laude in Architecture at the University in Milan, his native town; he simultaneously studied Piano at the Scuola Musicale di Milano and Voice with Professor Carla Castellani.

After working as an Architect for a few years, he became an artists manager from 1986 to 1997 in Milan, Naples, and Munich. He would become the Teatro alla Scala’s Casting Director working in the Artistic Department. He would then become the head of International Projects at the Academy of La Scala for three years.

In 2011, he returned to his previous profession, artists manager, contributing to the creation of InArt Managment, which manages the careers of such artists as Lisette Oropesa, Leah Crocetto, Corinne Winters, Luca Salsi, J’nai Bridges, Francesco Meli, and Brian Jagde, among others.

A number of singers have mentioned his passing on social media including Yusif Eyvazov, Martin Muehle, Elizabeth de Trejo, Laura Aikin, and Corinne Winters among others.

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