Riccardo Muti

Riccardo Muti born 28 July 1941 is an Italian conductor He is current music director of the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini Muti has previously held posts at the Maggio Musicale in Florence the Philharmonia Orchestra in London the Philadelphia Orchestra the Teatro alla Scala in Milan the Salzburg Whitsun Festival and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra He was named Music Director Emeritus in Chicago in 2023 A prolific recording artist Muti has received numerous honours and awards including two Grammy Awards He is especially associated with the music of Giuseppe Verdi Among the worlds leading conductors in a 2015 Bachtrack poll he was ranked by music critics as the worlds fifth best living conductor Muti was born in Naples but he spent his early childhood in Molfetta near Bari in the long region of Apulia on Italys southern Adriatic coast His father Domenico was a pathologist in Molfetta as well as an amateur singer and great music lover his mother Gilda was a reserved and severe Neapolitan woman with five children Muti graduated from Liceo classico Classical Lyceum Vittorio Emanuele II in Naples then studied piano at the Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella under Vincenzo Vitale here Muti was awarded a diploma cum laude He was subsequently awarded a diploma in Composition and Conducting by the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory Milan where he studied with the composer Bruno Bettinelli and the conductor Antonino Votto He has also studied composition with Nino Rota whom he considers a mentor He was unanimously awarded first place by the jury of the Guido Cantelli Competition for Conductors in Milan in 1967 and became the next year principal conductor and music director of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino a post he held for eleven years Since 1971 he has been a frequent conductor of operas and concerts at the Salzburg Festival where he is particularly known for his Mozart opera performances From 1972 Muti regularly conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra in London and in 1973 he was appointed its principal conductor succeeding Otto Klemperer In 1979 Muti became the music director and principal conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra In 1986 he became principal conductor of the Filarmonica della Scala Milan with which in 1988 he received the Viotti dOro and toured Europe In 1989 he conducted a live performance of Mozarts Don Giovanni that was recorded on a DVD In 1991 after twelve years as music director he announced his resignation from the Philadelphia Orchestra effective at the end of the 19911992 season In 1995 he was the president of the jury of the International Composing Competition 2 Agosto Muti has been a regular guest of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic In 1996 he conducted the Vienna Philharmonic during Vienna Festival Week and on tour to Japan Korea Hong Kong and Germany he most recently toured with the Vienna Philharmonic to Japan in 2008 Muti has also led the orchestras Vienna New Years Concert on seven occasions to date in 1993 1997 2000 2004 2018 2021 and 2025 Source Article Riccardo Muti from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA