Maestro Riccardo Muti (Conductor)
From the origins Riccardo Muti was born in Naples
where he studied piano at the Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella under
Vincenzo Vitale, graduating with distinction. He was subsequently awarded a
diploma in Composition and Conducting by the Conservatory “Giuseppe Verdi,”
Milan, where he studied under the guidance of Bruno Bettinelli and Antonino
Votto.
First works He first came to the
attention of critics and public in 1967, when he was unanimously awarded first
place by the prestigious jury of 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 in 2001 to a celebration of thirty years of artistic
collaboration with this glorious festival. In January 2006, he was appointed
artistic director of Salzburg’s Pentecost Festival. During the 1970s, he was
chief conductor of the London Philharmonia (1972 to 1982) succeeding Otto
Klemperer. From 1980 to 1992, he inherited the position of Music Director of the
Philadelphia Orchestra from Eugene Ormandy.
The Teatro alla Scala`s
years From 1986 to 2005, he was Music Director of the
Teatro alla Scala and under his direction important projects were undertaken
such as the Mozart-Da Ponte Trilogy and the Wagner Ring Cycle. Alongside the
classics of the repertoire, he brought many less performed and neglected works
to light. These include exquisite pieces from the eighteenth century Neapolitan
school as well as operas by Gluck, Cherubini, Spontini and most recently by
Poulenc, composer of “Les dialogues des Carmйlites.” This latter production
earned Muti the prestigious “Abbiati” prize from the critics. The long period
spent as musical director of the La Scala organization culminated on December 7,
2004, in the triumphal re-opening of the restored La Scala with Antonio
Salieri’s “Europa riconosciuta,” originally commissioned for La Scala’s
inaugural opening night in 1778.
International experiences 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
Bayerischer Rundfunk, the New York Philharmonic to the Orchestre National de
France, as well as, naturally, the Vienna Philharmonic, an orchestra to which he
is linked by particularly close and important ties, and with which he has
appeared at the Salzburg Festival since 1971. When Muti was invited to conduct
the orchestra in the concert celebrating 150 years of the Vienna Philharmonic,
he was presented with the Golden Ring, an honor bestowed by the Orchestra as a
sign of special appreciation and affection, awarded to only a select few
conductors. In April 2003, the French national radio channel, France Musique,
broadcast a “Journйe Riccardo Muti” consisting of 14 hours of his operatic and
symphonic recordings made with all the orchestras he has conducted throughout
his career. Additionally, on December 14 of the same year, he conducted the
long-awaited opening concert of the newly renovated Opera House “La Fenice” in
Venice. A continuous commitment
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. Muti’s vast
recording activities, already significant during the 1970s, have received
recognition in the form of many prizes, and span from the classical symphonic
and operatic repertory to contemporary works of the twentieth century. Riccardo
Muti’s social and civic conscience as an artist is demonstrated by concerts in a
number of places symbolising our troubled past and contemporary history, which
he has conducted in the context of the productions put on as part of the Ravenna
Festival’s “Le vie dell’Amicizia” (The Paths of Friendship) project. These
include Sarajevo (1997), Beirut (1998), Jerusalem (1999), Moscow (2000), Yerevan
and Istanbul (2001), New York (2002), Cairo (2003), Damascus (2004), El Diem,
Tunisia (2005) with the La Scala Philharmonic and Chorus, the Orchestra and
Chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and the “Musicians of Europe United,”
a group made up of the top players of Europe’s major orchestras. Innumerable
honors have been bestowed on Riccardo Muti over the course of his career. He has
been made a “Cavaliere di Gran Croce” (Knight of the Great Cross) of the Italian
Republic and has received the City of Milan’s “Gran Medaglia d’Oro,” as well as
the “Verdienstkreuz” from the German Republic. He was awarded the Lйgion
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 has been elected as 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 honoured him
with the “Wolf” prize for the arts. He has received honorary degrees from many
universities in Italy and abroad.
Our days With the Vienna Philharmonic,
Riccardo Muti celebrated the 250th birthday of Mozart on January 27, 2006, with
a worldwide telecast of a concert from Salzburg. His most recent tour with the
Vienna Philharmonic was a triumphant set of performances in US and Mexico in
March 2006.
from official website
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