Muti Speaks: "I Am Considering" Opera di Roma Offer

Riccardo Muti finally spoke today to the Italian media at the press conference for the 2009 Ravenna Festival. The AGI wire service reports that the Italian maestro, regarding the chances of his accepting the Music Director post at Opera di Roma, said:

"If I choose a theater, it's a commitment... I am grateful... I am considering the offer with enthusiasm... I've been doing this job for 40 years and I've always considered every offer at length... It happened with la Scala, with Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Philadelphia and Chicago, because those are life-changing choices".

As Opera Chic already reported when the news of the Rome offer broke, there is talk of Muti preferring the less stressful title of Principal Conductor over that of Music Director (that's instead Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno's favorite option).

Of course Muti's words might siomply indicate his desire to run out the clock until the March 31 meeting of Opera di Roma's board of directors that, as Opera Chic reported yesterday, will discuss the replacement of outgoing GM Ernani (Teatro Lirico di Cagliari GM Maurizio Pietrantonio has been indicated by Rome Mayor Alemanno as the likely successor).

Once a new GM is named, Muti might then make his decision public.

Full background on the Muti/Roma deal here.