Riccardo Muti

Riccardo Muti, the music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 2010, is one of the leading international conductors of his generation. Admired among musicians for his solid technique and unerring ear, he has performed and recorded a broad range of repertoire, with particular specialties in Italian opera and 20th-century symphonic music. Born in 1941, he held early posts in Italian opera houses before making debuts with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New Philharmonia in London, and the Berlin Philharmonic. He spent a memorable decade as the Philharmonia’s chief (1973-82), triumphantly rebuilding the orchestra’s flagging reputation, and was music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra (1980-92) and La Scala, Milan (1986-2005). During a half-century association with the Vienna State Opera and Vienna Philharmonic, he conducted the orchestra’s 150th-anniversary concert in 1992 and the prestigious New Year concerts no fewer than six times since 1993. Muti’s recordings include a series of Italian operas notable for technical finesse and dramatic urgency; in addition, he has championed lesser-known works by composers such as Cherubini and Spontini. His orchestral output includes the first Beethoven symphony cycle specifically for CD with the Philadelphia Orchestra, while his more recent recordings in Chicago include well-received readings of symphonies by Berlioz, Bruckner, and Shostakovich.