Riccardo Muti Appointed Music Director of CSO

Maestro Muti begins his tenure with the CSO in 2010–2011 season.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association—with the unanimous approval from its Board of Trustees and overwhelming support from the musicians of the CSO—appointed world-renowned conductor Riccardo Muti as its 10th music director. Maestro Muti will begin a five-year contract as music director in September of the 2010–2011 season. He will conduct a minimum of 10 weeks of CSO subscription concerts each season, in addition to domestic and international tours. Maestro Muti will come to Chicago on June 2, 2008, to celebrate his appointment with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra family.

As music director designate, beginning January 2009, Maestro Muti is expected to oversee auditions and planning for future seasons.  Additionally, he will lead the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in the Verdi Requiem at Symphony Center on January 15, 16 and 17, 2009. Maestro Muti will conduct two subscription weeks in the 2009–2010 season. Details of those concerts will be announced at a later date. 

Maestro Muti made his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival in July 1973. In September of 2007—for the first time in over 30 years—Maestro Muti appeared with the CSO in a month-long residency that included two weeks of remarkable subscription concerts, a sold-out opening night gala and a triumphant European tour, which marked the Orchestra's first performances in Italy in more than 25 years. 

"From the moment Maestro Muti took the podium earlier this season, it was immediately evident that something truly special was taking place," commented Deborah Rutter Card, president of the CSO Association. "The connection between Maestro Muti and our musicians was electric, and the music making was astonishing. We are thrilled to appoint Riccardo Muti, one of the most extraordinary and respected conductors of all time, to the position of music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. His unparalleled musicianship, steadfast commitment to the highest level of music making, and dedication to preserving the rich history of the CSO while continuing to propel the organization into the future perfectly complement the world-class stature of our Orchestra and its musicians. We look forward to Maestro Muti's tenure."

"I am very happy to be joining the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as their music director," commented Riccardo Muti. "It's interesting in life how timing is everything. For many years now, I have very much enjoyed my life as a guest conductor with many wonderful orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the London Philharmonia and the Bayerischer Rundfunk, as well as my work with young orchestra musicians in creating the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra in Italy. Then the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, after an absence of 32 years, re-entered my life last September and the immediate connection with the wonderful musicians of the CSO made a very powerful impression. This musical strength just kept growing during our successful European tour. Sometimes when you least expect it, the timing and the situation unite. This has happened in Chicago, a remarkable city, and I very much look forward to continuing making music with the great musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and to working with the strong Board of Trustees and the warm and welcoming staff led by Deborah Card." About Riccardo Muti

Born in Naples, Italy, Riccardo Muti first came to the attention of critics and public in 1967, when he was unanimously awarded first place at the Guido Cantelli Competition for conductors in Milan. The following year, he was appointed principal conductor of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, a position he maintained until 1980. In 1971, Muti was invited by Herbert von Karajan to conduct at the Salzburg Festival, the first of many occasions, which led to a celebration of 30 years of artistic collaboration with this festival in 2001. From 1972 until 1982, Muti was chief conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra; from 1980 to 1992, he served as music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and from 1986 to 2005, he was music director of the Teatro alla Scala. During his tenure at La Scala he undertook such projects as the Mozart–Da Ponte trilogy and Wagner's "Ring" cycle and reopened the newly restored La Scala with Antonio Salieri's "Europa riconosciuta," originally commissioned for La Scala's inaugural performance in 1778.

Over the course of his extraordinary career, Riccardo Muti has conducted most of the important orchestras in the world, from the Berlin Philharmonic to the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic to the Orchestre National de France, as well as the Vienna Philharmonic, with which he has appeared at the Salzburg Festival since 1971. In December 2003, he conducted the opening concert of the newly renovated La Fenice Opera House in Venice.

In 2004, Muti founded the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra, consisting of young musicians selected by an international committee from some 600 instrumentalists from all over Italy. In May 2007, Maestro Muti began a new five-year project dedicated to the Neapolitan School of the 18th Century with the Cherubini Orchestra as part of the Salzburg Whitsun Festival.

Muti's recording activities have received recognition in the form of many prizes, and span the classical symphonic and operatic repertories to contemporary works. 

Riccardo Muti's social and civic conscience as an artist is demonstrated by concerts in a number of locations symbolizing our troubled past and contemporary history, which he has conducted as part of the Ravenna Festival's Le vie dell'Amicizia (The paths of friendship) project. These include Sarajevo, Beirut, Jerusalem, Moscow, Yerevan, Istanbul, New York, Cairo, Damascus, El Diem and Tunisia. 

Innumerable honors have been bestowed on Riccardo Muti over the course of his career. He has been made a Cavaliere di Gran Croce of the Italian Republic and has received the City ofMilan's Gran Medaglia d'Oro, as well as the Verdienstkreuz from Germany. He was awarded the Légion d'Honneur in France and made a Knight of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in Britain. The Salzburg Mozarteum awarded him its silver medal for his contribution to Mozart's music and he was elected an honorary member of the Wiener Hofmusikkapelle and the Wiener Staatsoper. Russian President Putin awarded him the Order of Friendship, and the State of Israel has honored him with the Wolf Prize for the arts. He has received honorary degrees from many universities in Italy and abroad as well as the Abbiati Prize.

Maestro Muti studied piano at the Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella under Vincenzo Vitale, graduating with distinction. He subsequently received a diploma in composition and conducting from the Verdi Conservatory in Milan, where he studied with Bruno Bettinelli and Antonino Votto.

About the CSO Conducting Legacy

Throughout its rich history, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has counted nine of the world's most notable and respected conductors as music director:

Theodore Thomas (1891 to 1905)
Frederick Stock (1905 to 1942)
Désiré Defauw (1943 to 1947)
Artur Rodzinski (1947 to 1948)
Rafael Kubelík (1950 to 1953)
Fritz Reiner (1953 to 1962)
Jean Martinon (1963 to 1968)
Sir Georg Solti (1969 to 1991)
Daniel Barenboim (1991 to 2006).

Currently, the CSO is led by two of today's most celebrated conductors, who assumed titled positions with the Orchestra in the 2006–2007 season. Eminent Dutch conductor Bernard Haitink is the Orchestra's principal conductor, and renowned French composer and conductorPierre Boulez is its conductor emeritus.  

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