Booed tenor Alagna storms off stage at Milan's La Scala

Top tenor Roberto Alagna stormed off stage after he was booed in the middle of a performance at Milan's La Scala opera house, forcing a costumeless substitute to replace him and drawing criticism from organisers.

"There has been an obvious lack of respect towards the public and the theatre," La Scala's artistic director, Stephane Lissner, said in statement on Monday, calling the incident regrettable.

French-born Alagna, known as 'the fourth tenor' and hailed by some critics as the new Pavarotti, had been playing the lead male role in Franco Zeffirelli's lavish production of Verdi's Aida, which launched La Scala's new season last Thursday.

But minutes into the show's second performance on Sunday night, a small section of the audience began booing Alagna, who had just finished singing an aria, apparently displeased about comments he had made about La Scala's demanding audience.

The 43-year old, already upset by some of the reviews he earned for his performance on the opening night, raised his fist defiantly and walked out, leaving stunned fellow singer Ildiko Komlosi to sing 'a duet on my own'.

After a few moments of embarrassment, with some in the audience shouting 'Shame on you!', understudy Antonello Palombi jumped in and carried on singing wearing a pair of jeans and a black shirt for lack of a costume.

"They literally took me and threw me on stage," Palombi told ANSA news agency after the show ended with a nine-minute applause.

"It was a good test, and I passed it".

Alagna had already said in a newspaper interview after the opening night that he would finish the Aida but would cancel future shows at La Scala, where the audience - which forks out up to £1,350 for a ticket - can be notoriously difficult.

He said that performing at La Scala was like descending into a bullring and that his wife, soprano Angela Gheorghiu, was also thinking of cancelling her appearance in La Traviata next year.

"I have sung all over the world and I have had success everywhere, but the public tonight was surreal," Alagna said late on Sunday.

Organisers apologised to the audience and conductor Riccardo Chailly said he had never seen a singer walk off before in his long career at La Scala.

Luciano Pavarotti was once famously heckled there after missing a high note in 1992, but he stayed on and later said the public had been right to criticise him.