Riccardo Muti

Reporting from Chicago — Later this week, when music director Riccardo Muti brings his Chicago Symphony Orchestra to Orange County for the first time in 25 years, it won't be to show off. The CSO doesn't have to. The fabled 121-year-old ensemble long ago earned itself a lofty niche among the world's elite bands. Nor does the charismatic, much-honored Neapolitan maestro have anything to prove personally. His vaunted career, which includes the directorships of the La Scala opera in Milan, the Philadelphia Orchestra and London's Philharmonia Orchestra, speaks for itself.

Asking some of the finest classical conductors in the world what pop, jazz or rock music they listen to seemed like a quixotic idea. Even if they had favorites, what were the chances conductors would take time out from their busy schedules to respond? As it turned out most of those queried did respond, and with gusto. Riccardo Muti, music director of the Chicago Symphony, was asked while in transit to a conducting gig at the Italian Senate for the president of Italy. When he forgot to mention another favorite, he emailed again two days later on his way to Munich because he wanted to add Celine Dion's name to his list.

Riccardo Muti is the epitome of the glamour maestro. This means the 47-year-old Italian conductor heads both a great orchestra and a great opera company, dividing his time equally between the Philadelphia Orchestra (which he will lead in concerts in Pasadena and Orange County this week) and La Scala. It means he can limit his guest conducting to the world's two most prestigious orchestras, the Vienna and Berlin philharmonics. It means that Muti is very, very popular.

The start of a new season is usually a celebratory time for an orchestra. But for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the past few days have been a major headache for management and ticket holders. Musicians with the orchestra have been on strike since Saturday after contract negotiations fell through. The orchestra said the disagreement centers mostly around wages and employee contributions toward healthcare costs.  Chicago's orchestra joins a number of other classical groups experiencing labor problems.

This is a thrilling performance of Puccini's first signature opera, recorded live at La Scala in June 1998. Riccardo Muti is simply among the best at all this, moving the score along but also lovingly responding to Puccini's flexible lines. Jose Cura continues his rightful ascent into tenor superstardom, making a ringing, ardent, irresistible Des Grieux. If he occasionally goes over the top with Italianate catch-in-the-throat vocalism, well, the role of obsessed lover certainly justifies it.

Ending months of rumors, Riccardo Muti, former music director of Milan's La Scala opera, has been named music director of the Chicago Symphony, the orchestra announced Monday. The post has been vacant since Daniel Barenboim retired in 2006. Muti's five-year Chicago contract, beginning in September 2010, will entail a minimum of 10 weeks of subscription concerts each season, in addition to national and international tours. --

Pope Benedict XVI has long been a classical music fan and in the next few weeks, he will take time out from his schedule to attend two classical concerts. Riccardo Muti is set to lead a concert at the Vatican this week for the pope in honor of the seventh anniversary of the pontiff's election. The Italian conductor is expected to lead Rome's Teatro dell'Opera on Friday, with music by Vivaldi and Verdi. Muti's website states that the concert will be broadcast live on the Italian television channel RAI 5. Pope Benedict XVI will attend another classical concert on June 1 at La Scala opera house in Milan.

The start of a new season is usually a celebratory time for an orchestra. But for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the past few days have been a major headache for management and ticket holders. Musicians with the orchestra have been on strike since Saturday after contract negotiations fell through. The orchestra said the disagreement centers mostly around wages and employee contributions toward healthcare costs.  Chicago's orchestra joins a number of other classical groups experiencing labor problems.

Pope Benedict XVI has long been a classical music fan and in the next few weeks, he will take time out from his schedule to attend two classical concerts. Riccardo Muti is set to lead a concert at the Vatican this week for the pope in honor of the seventh anniversary of the pontiff's election. The Italian conductor is expected to lead Rome's Teatro dell'Opera on Friday, with music by Vivaldi and Verdi. Muti's website states that the concert will be broadcast live on the Italian television channel RAI 5. Pope Benedict XVI will attend another classical concert on June 1 at La Scala opera house in Milan.

Reporting from Chicago — Later this week, when music director Riccardo Muti brings his Chicago Symphony Orchestra to Orange County for the first time in 25 years, it won't be to show off. The CSO doesn't have to. The fabled 121-year-old ensemble long ago earned itself a lofty niche among the world's elite bands. Nor does the charismatic, much-honored Neapolitan maestro have anything to prove personally. His vaunted career, which includes the directorships of the La Scala opera in Milan, the Philadelphia Orchestra and London's Philharmonia Orchestra, speaks for itself.

Ending months of rumors, Riccardo Muti, former music director of Milan's La Scala opera, has been named music director of the Chicago Symphony, the orchestra announced Monday. The post has been vacant since Daniel Barenboim retired in 2006. Muti's five-year Chicago contract, beginning in September 2010, will entail a minimum of 10 weeks of subscription concerts each season, in addition to national and international tours. --

In the wake of an Italian newspaper report that Riccardo Muti was considering "an offer" from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony has sought to clarify that it did not offer him the job of music director, which will be open next year after Daniel Barenboim departs. Instead, says Deborah R. Card, president of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Assn., the orchestra has invited Muti to appear as a guest conductor. "We have very much wanted him to return to Chicago.

Maestro Riccardo Muti let the music do the talking at his Thursday night performance with the New York Philharmonic, his first gig since resigning April 2 from La Scala, the Milan opera house where he became embroiled in a battle with the musicians and other theater workers. In the days before the Philharmonic concert, Muti's representatives said the maestro would not grant interviews.

Riccardo Muti, citing continued hostility by La Scala employees, has stepped down as musical director of the opera house, ending a 19-year tenure and pitching the institution into more turmoil. There was no immediate word on a possible successor at the Milan theater, which launched the career of Giuseppe Verdi and is a source of national pride in Italy. The behind-the-curtains drama started weeks ago, soon after La Scala reopened in December following an extensive renovation.

In the wake of an Italian newspaper report that Riccardo Muti was considering "an offer" from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony has sought to clarify that it did not offer him the job of music director, which will be open next year after Daniel Barenboim departs. Instead, says Deborah R. Card, president of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Assn., the orchestra has invited Muti to appear as a guest conductor. "We have very much wanted him to return to Chicago.

This is a thrilling performance of Puccini's first signature opera, recorded live at La Scala in June 1998. Riccardo Muti is simply among the best at all this, moving the score along but also lovingly responding to Puccini's flexible lines. Jose Cura continues his rightful ascent into tenor superstardom, making a ringing, ardent, irresistible Des Grieux. If he occasionally goes over the top with Italianate catch-in-the-throat vocalism, well, the role of obsessed lover certainly justifies it.

The concerto, in which the individual (a soloist) is pitted against the mob (the orchestra), is absolute music at its most theatrical. We speak politely of a soloist's dialogue with the orchestra or collaboration with a conductor. We expect the orchestra to be supportive. Yet what we really anticipate is temperament, conflict, high drama.