Buona Salute, Maestro Muti!

Riccardo Muti at Avery Fisher Hall.
Photo by Chris Lee © 2009.

We here at Superconductor would like to take a pause in our regularly scheduled blogging to extend wishes for a swift recovery to Riccardo Muti, the acclaimed conductor who was scheduled to begin his first season as Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. 

 Mr. Muti had occupied the post for exactly two weeks before being forced to cancel his fall appearances at Orchestra Hall due to an unspecified acute stomach condition--possibly gastritis. He flew home to Italy in order to consult with his doctors, and will hopefully make a full recovery.

According to a report in the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has shuffled its program lineup slightly, substituting in three different conductors, and changing one program entirely to focus on the Mahler Seventh Symphony under the baton of Pierre Boulez.

A performance of Beethoven's Violin Concerto featuring Anne-Sophie Mutter was led by the soloist as the musicians followed her bow. It was Ms. Mutter's first time conducting the Chicago forces. When it was time to play the Mozart symphony that was next on the program, the orchestra followed their concert-master's bow and played without a conductor.

Mr. Muti, 69, is the first conductor to hold the position of Music Director since it was vacated by Daniel Barenboim in 2006. He has previously held posts at La Scala and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and has conducted acclaimed concerts with the New York Philharmonic. In February of 2010 he made a long-awaited appearance at the Metropolitan Opera, conducting Verdi's Attila.

We hope that Mr. Muti makes a full recovery, and is back making music on our shores again very soon.