Zeinab Badawi looks at the world of opera and how it is making itself fit for the future. Zeinab travels to La Scala in Milan, Italy, where most opera singers dream of performing. If you sing solo on stage at La Scala, you are likely to enjoy a successful operatic career. La Scala has the largest academy in the world attached to a theatre. It trains hundreds of young people from countries around the world every year in all aspects of theatre craft and opera singing.

Zeinab goes behind the scenes to follow four young singers: from Europe, Asia and Latin America, as they are put through their paces. They have grit and talent, and they want to become the opera stars of the future.

She hears the views of their teachers, such as acclaimed former mezzo-soprano Luciana D'Intino and one of the world's leading vocal coaches, Vincenzo Scalera. Zeinab also meets a former graduate of the academy, Egyptian-born soprano Fatma Said, who says being there transformed her life. Show less