Opera Chic

Muti University: Full-time Maestro, Part-time Professor

In interviews with singers, we like to ask (at times, off the record) which conductors they've worked with who rank the most honorably: the maestro who invariably rounds out the top three slots is Riccardo Muti for his scholarship, musicianship and his almost anti-establishment disregard for time card punching while grooming singers and musicians in rehearsals for the stage, which sadly, is an artifact of our parent's generation (modernity should offend our parent's generation, not ours.)

Muti, whether digging up heretofore extinct,  Neapolitan School manuscripts or writing books on the elevation of Italian arts and culture in the post-1945 era, uses his influence for humanitarian aims, so last week, the Neapolitan maestro cultivated an audience of 2000 kids and spoke for two hours on Verdi's underwhelming legacy, particularly under Italy's regressive arts funding drought. He asked the audience of university and conservatory students and musicians from all over Italy to reevaluate Verdi and his musical valor and to reassert Verdi's foothold of Italian culture to the country's arts-insouciant aristocracy, gatekeepers of funds.

Muti's poised to open Nabucco at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma this week in the same Scarpitta production that premiered in 2011, used as an impropmtu protest of Italy's deep arts funding cuts. Referencing the opera's patriotic undercurrents, specifically the choral work Va' Pensiero, he's against the popular meme to turn it into Italy's unofficial national anthem: "Some would like to turn it into a national anthem, but it's the song of a population who cries out because they're in exile and want to return to their promise land -- it has to be a song that's sung slowly, gravely and sotto voce. Does that seem like the characteristics of a national anthem to you?"

Domenica with Domenico: Il ritorno di Don Calandrino

OC unpacks her luggage from a week in London to a newly-uploaded capture of Domenico Cimarosa's Il Ritorno di Don Calandrino, the 18th century gem unearthed by Riccardo Muti (from the archives of the San Pietro a Maiella Conservatorio), which premiered at the 2007 Salzburger Pfingstfestspiele.

Muti's airy reading of a score that hasn't been heard in over two centuries with his Cherubini kidz is ethereal. Trust. OC was there for an opera that set Salzburg on fire and burned brighter than the (Whit)sun.

Muti, Miracles, Signs and Wonders

(Photo:Silvia Lelli)

Right around the time you guys were celebrating Jesus' resurrection with bunnies & binges, the NYTimes ran a Dan Wakin piece on Teatro dell'Opera di Roma's rise from the brink of uncertainty, merit to direttore onarario a vita, Riccardo Muti, with quotes from our favorites -- Paolo Isotta for Corriere della Sera and Giovanni Gavazzeni Ricordi for Il Giornale. Resurrected 'em? Damn near killed 'em! With notable upticks in ticket sales, educational outreach, refreshed programming and musicianship, even the usually-blasé Italian press took notice of Muti twerking it hard.

Muti Drops Out of CSO Asia Tour

Last year, the Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra robustly chaperoned his musicians through two international tours, one California tour and sixteen weeks of concerts.

But 2013 begins on a downtick for Riccardo Muti, who just withdrew from a two-week CSO Asia tour, weakened by flu. While seeking treatment, Muti's doctors additionally discovered a hernia that requires immediate intervention. 

The tour, which kicks off on January 25 in Taiwan, consists of nine concerts across six cities. Lorin Maazel slips into Muti's frac. We wish the Maestro a quick recovery and look forward to seeing him in April for his next CSO appointments.

Muti's "Trionfo" at Opera di Roma's Boccanegra Season Opener

The only consistent thing in life is inconsistency -- except when it comes to Muti's Verdi. We can always count on the Neapolitan maestro to power-up Verdi like Pitfall Harry swinging over fire pits & scorpions. The Italian press branded last night's season opener at Teatro dell Opera di Roma a triumph for Muti's "straodinario" "folgorante" & "strepitoso" (extraordinary, brilliant & stunning) baton skillz with a chorus and orchestra "al più alto livello" -- on the highest level -- who high-scored for Verdi's Boccanegra in a new Adrian Nobel production.

Below, a video of opening night from Dagospia in a pageantry of politicians (Italian prez Giorgio Napolitano, PM Mario Monti and Rome mayor Gianni Alemanno), fur, flip-phones and bewbs. Pro tip: assume that anything from Dagospia is NSFW.

Muti's Boccanegra in Rome

Teatro dell'Opera di Roma is days away from its November 27 new season opener, but judging by the enthusiastic reception of tonight's final dress, everyone should just loosen their Marinella seven-fold silk ties and light a fat 12" Cuban. 

Earlier tonight, the Rome opera house rolled out a preview of a new Adrian Noble production of Simon Boccanegra, generously applauded by 1,350 fans who were saluted by Riccardo Muti before picking up his baton. The Italian maestro wished them all "happy listening -- I hope you guys like it" and that if there were boos at the end, it'd only be "an almost-free boo", referencing the free tickets extended by the house.

Made in Italy (in Paris) for the Mutis: Chiara Muti at Valentino

Loads of first row celebrities across the runways of New York, Milan, London and Paris are the swan-like offspring of famous parents, but Chiara Muti's got more street cred than her fellow Geldofs, Brandts, Casiraghis and Courtin-Clarins'. C'mon...her dad's the man!

Chiara was spotted at yesterday's Valentino S/S 2013 show at Espace Ephemere Tuileries wearing a Valentino gown and Rockstud clutch, both from the designer's F/W 2012 collection, pictured above.

Take Him Out to the Ballgame: Muti's Perfect Pitch

Riccardo Muti warmed up his (lefty) pitching arm and threw out the opening pitch at Wrigley Field on June 13 during a Cubs vs. Tigers game.

Muti & Miuccia Together Again

(Left, Miuccia Prada and Riccardo Muti center. Images courtesy of Vogue.com)

The Italian powerhouses last shared the spotlight two years ago for a February 2010 Verdi Attila, backed by NYC's The Metropolitan Opera, outfitted by Miuccia Prada's atelier and conducted by Riccardo Muti.

Earlier this week, the two met-up again. Muti was at Rome's Villa Aurelia where he was presented with the 2012 McKim Medal. Miuccia and Ennio Morricone, both former McKim Medal awardees, were on hand to celebrate the Maestro's victory, presented by Mercedes Bass, head of the American Academy in Rome (photo below).

Muti's currently in Rome conducting at the Teatro dell'Opera in a new Pier Luigi Pizzi production of Attila that opened on May 25 and stars Ildar Abdrazakov as the mighty Hun, which exited to positive reviews. Happily ever Attila...

Riccardo Muti & the CSO Take Russia and Italy

Riccardo Muti's rounding third on the current Chicago Symphony Orchestra tour that has taken the American orchestra through Russian and Italian landmarks. The tour kicked off in Moscow on April 16 and continued to St. Petersburg. Italy was inaugurated with Rome's Teatro dell'Opera on April 22, continued to Naples two days later, landed in Brescia and finishes tomorrow in Ravenna with Rota, Strauss and Shostakovich.

The CSO website's running a blog from the current tour here so you can vicariously keep up with the trailblazing CSO, photos by Todd Rosenberg.

Update: Here's Andrew Patner's [APatz] piece for The Chicago Sun Times.

Mercadante's I Due Figaro in Madrid with Muti

Los Dos Figaros! Over the weekend, Riccardo Muti hosted Mercadante's I Due Figaro at Madrid's Teatro Real. The 19th century Italian opera was given 2011 summer premieres at the Salzburg and Ravenna festivals and is one of many neglected Italian works that Muti's resurrected from the archives. 

A Macbeth Victory to Open Rome's Teatro dell'Opera 2011-12 Season

German director Peter Stein's new ghost and knight-filled Verdi's Macbeth triumphed as the 2011/12 season opener at Rome's Teatro dell'Opera last night. It's the same production that Stein premiered in August at the Salzburger Festspiele to mixed reviews (photo above). Nevermind - Rome loved it.

"Un grande Macbeth ovazione" was part of the Rome-based daily La Repubblica's headline. Ten minutes of applause, mostly for Riccardo Muti and Russian soprano Tatiana Serjan as Lady Macbeth. Serjan also elicited mid-scene applause during her final aria. Rome's audiences made another statement with mid-scene applause after the chorus' "Patria oppressa" at the beginning of the fourth act. Muti and Serjan had also collaborated with Stein during the August Salzburg edition.

All the VIPs were in the house last night, including the Rome mayor (Gianni Alemanno), the president of the republic (Giorgio Napolitano), and the new culture minister (Lorenzo Ornaghi).

An intrepid youtuber uploaded a clip of Serjan singing Lady Macbeth's final aria.

Party in the Rectory with Riccardo Muti

Heh. Riccardo Muti went to Torino not just for the city's antique caffes omg those caffes but to pick up an honorary degree awarded for disseminating Italian culture through his art and spreading messages of peace worldwide (officially in "History and Criticism of Musical Cultures"), organized by Torino vocal academy La Nuova Arca.

Afterwards he conducted the Orchestra dei Talenti Musicali della Fondazione Crt in the first movement of Mozart's Serenade No. 12 in C minor. In the rectory. With the rector. It never gets old.

Muti's 2011 Birgit Nilsson Prize in Photos

One week ago, as OC was celebrating with Maestro Riccardo Muti his 2011 Birgit Nilsson Foundation Prize victory, she fell madly in love with Stockholm and its fresh herring, striking blonds, and crisp-white light. Here are some musical highlights from her camera, more found in her facebook.

The lobby of the Royal Swedish Opera was running an exhibition of 12 images from Birgit Nilsson's career performances on the RSO stage.

Shots from the press conference with Maestro Riccardo Muti, the managing director  of the RSO Birgitta Svendén and president of the Birgit Nilsson Foundation Dr. Prof. Rutberg Reisch.

 

The exterior of the RSO

And here's Andrew Patner's headline from the Chicago Sun Times that spawned the Million Dollar Maestro meme.

Fresh herring at Sturehof

Restaurant Volt was also amazing.

Gorgeous light:

Music in the air...join OC on facebook for the whole set.

Opera Chic & Grazia.it: Million Dollar Maestro Muti: Birgit Nilsson Prize Recap

Last week OC joined the party in Stockholm as the Birgit Nilsson Foundation presented its 2011 laureate, Riccardo Muti, with the gilded prize.

It's okay if you weren't there -- OC recapped the highlights for her Grazia column, Stasera Esco, which you can read about here. 

If your Italian is bootleg, click the link below for some ~magic~.

Muti Gets Down with the Scandinavian Flava: 2011 Birgit Nilsson Prize Teaser

(photo: Fredrik Stehn)

Early today in Sweden's capital under the twinkling chandeliers and gold leaf of the Royal Swedish Opera, Riccardo Muti addressed the press as incoming 2011 Birgit Nilsson prize laureate, an award that comes with a dizzying 1 million dollar purse. Muti declined to address such details, but hinted that any funds, including funds extended philanthropically, would be made under the veil of anonymity. Aside from Muti's legions of super-fans, president of the Birgit Nilsson Foundation Rutberg Reisch and the RSO managing director Birgitta Svendén were on hand to congratulate the Neapolitan conductor (photo above, more here).

"You realize that maybe you've done something important with your life and that people around the world recognize the work that you've done as a musician," Muti said during the press conference from his most recent perspective as 2nd year MD of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Honorary Director For Life at Opera di Roma.

The award commemorates the deep impressions that Muti's slashed across the landscape of opera and classical music over the past two decades -- champion of rare works from Paisiello, Cimarosa and Martucci; fostering young talent through his Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini kids; and outreach initiatives in conflict areas (prisons, too).

An award ceremony was held later in the evening at the Royal Swedish Opera, attended by H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf and H.M Queen Silvia. Sondra Radvanovsky sang Tacea la notte placida accompanied by Gianandrea Noseda and the Royal Swedish Orchestra, followed by a stirring Va, Pensiero from Verdi's Nabucco.

A gala dinner was held at Stockholm's City Hall to toast Muti and Birgit Nilsson's extraordinary legacy -- Salome, Isolde, Turandot, Brunnhilde, Elektra -- reminding us that Birgit drank your milkshake. She drank it before you even ordered it. Even young Muti, when he was Music Director at Maggio Musicale, sacrificed his cherished leisure to take a train from Florence to Rome to hear Birgit sing Leonore in a concert version of Fidelio conducted by Lenny Bernstein, an honor reserved only for the Swedish dramatic soprano. More tomorrow after OC's refuels on fresh herrings.

(photo: Fredrik Stehn)

Live From Stockholm: Opera Chic Congratulates Riccardo Muti, Winner of the Birgit Nilsson Prize

Later tonight in Stockholm, Riccardo Muti will be awarded the Birgit Nilsson Prize for "extraordinary contributions" to music in the presence of H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf and H.M. Queen Silvia and Opera Chic

Then it's off to Oviedo, Spain, where next Friday, Oct 21, he will receive the Prince of Asturias arts prize.

 

Riccardo Muti Accepts "Honorary Director For Life" Title At Opera di Roma

Riccardo Muti just accepted the title of Honorary Director For Life at Opera di Roma; the conductor expained once again that his schedule is too busy for him to fit an actual Music Directorship in it, but he will continue his close relationship with the Rome opera.

The Critics Love Muti's "Warlike", "Unforgettable" Macbeth

From today's Corriere della Sera, that devotes a half page, above the fold, to Riccardo Muti's and Peter Stein's "Macbeth" in Salzburg, a "warlike Macbeth", writes the Milanese newspaper, "that makes one smell the stench of death".

From the review (not yet online, wait until tomorrow when the paper's content becomes available for free on Corriere's website):

"His [Muti's] interpretation is not only astonishing in its technique -- a thousand details are carefully refined -- but it's modern, dark, full of tragedy and less propulsive (on average, the tempi are now slower) but much more biting and gloomy than in the past. A 'gothic' interpretation, truly gripping."

 

Happy Birthday Riccardo Muti

The awesome Italian maestro turns 70 today (video via the CSO YouTube channel).

Update: Muti today in Salzburg with Macbeth cast!

 

Ele and Muti for Alitalia

Browsing today's Corriere, we found a new series of ads for Alitalia with cover boy and girl Riccardo Muti and Eleonora Abbagnato.

 

 

Muti Speaks to Corriere: Directors are Lame, He's Not Doing Anymore Opera [in Salzburg], and He's Still not Ready for Beethoven's Missa Solemnis -- Among Other Revelations

The Napoletano Dynamite didn't hold much back when speaking to Corriere della Sera in an interview that ran in today's paper.

Riccardo Muti's recently returned from a whirlwind Kenya adventure with his Orchestra Cherubini kids, part of a Ravenna Festival initiative that gave a performance of Italian classics -- and Hakuna Matata from The Lion King. lloll. 

Muti turns 70 on July 28 and shared a few thoughts [all translations are OC's kthnx]:

For 41 years I celebrate my birthday at the Salzburg Fesival by coincidence of my operatic appointments. For the future, I'm seriously thinking about devoting more time to myself, like the expression in Latin: Primum vivere. [first you must live, then you can philosophise, Primum vivere deinde philosophari]. In Salzburg I'll limit my concerts with the Wiener. Despite the engagements I've already received, I won't condut opera. For myself at 70 years -- I'm not feeling it. So many people thought that after I fell off the podium in Chicago that I would have slowed down or that i would have relaxed. Instead, they found that I have a heart in superb condition.
 
In the run-up of a sold-out August 3rd performance of Verdi's Macbeth for the Salzburg Festival, directed by Peter Stein with the Vienna Philharmonic, he'll be at his Anif-district villa.

How will he celebrate his birthday?

For my 60th birthday, the Vienna Orchestra prepared a marvelous ceremony, they played for me and the chorus sang Schubert while slipping themselves into the garden of my villa in Anif while I was reading the newspaper. Now I don't know if there will be any surprises, but certainly something will happen. The Wiener decided to extend to me the honor of becoming an honorary mentor, even after giving me everything that was already possible -- l'Anello d'Oro [the Wiener's special honor], the medals of Strauss, Nicolai, Mozart -- I'm a member of the Musikverein and of the Staatsoper.

His icons? He cites soloists such as Casadesus, Richter, and Arrau. For conductors, Antonino Votto was a hero, "a technical and ethical point of reference with the imprint of Toscanini."

On Carlos Kleiber: "We were friends, he was a brilliant and bright light, a star."

He cites Azio Corghi for teaching him blazing counterpoint in composition studies and Maria Carbone for teaching him the secrets of technical voice.

On Missa Solemnis: "I directed Beethoven's 9th at 46 years old. I still haven't gotten near to conducting Missa Solemnis -- I have to resolve a few problems in my head [the text..testo not testa!] first."

He disses the emerging cult of directors who run away with concepts that marginalize the music and young conductors who don't know any better:

Strehler said that to be a good conductor you need a good director and vice versa. This type of appreciation is already lost. Rushing is the enemy of music. Today you start to conduct at 22 years old without having done the necessary study, without any theatrical preparation, without realizing that every arrangement has a weight, a color, an accent, pertaining to how the singer supports the sentence. They're put into a hole where they perform and the directors have taken the upper hand. Opera's in a dangerous moment. All of the serious singers are complaining.

His favorite productions of all time?

Agnese di Hohenstaufen in Florence with Enriquez and the scenography by Corrado Cagli; Iphigénie en Tauride with scenography by Manzu'; Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Falstaff with Strehler at La Scala and still Die Walküre at Scala; Orfeo ed Euridice with Ronconi and Pizzi.

Muti at the Club

(Photo: By Dennis Polkow for New City Music)

This past weekend, Muti partied like it was 1999 in anticipation of his Saturday night, season-concluding concert with the CSO, dusting-off his first successful year as music director of the orchestra. Affable as ever, Muti addressed his audience with lively jabs and his warm Neapolitan humor.

The evening prior, he was at Redmoon Theater, getting down with one of the CSO's young composer in residence, Mason Bates, who was DJ'ing to his penned "The B-Sides", a tribute to club music for MusicNOW's "Mercury Soul" event:

Muti surprised everyone by wandering in unannounced in the middle of Bates’ Friday night club event at , later also joined by Yo-Yo Ma. “Forgive me for being overdressed,” whispered Muti, “but I had a dinner with the donors tonight. My children would not believe where I am and what I am doing!” Muti stayed a couple of hours and took in the proceedings quite intently. Although he did not gyrate to the electronica beats, he was fascinated that everyone was moving “up and down in a single motion.” At one point, Muti asked if I thought “anything would come of this.” I responded with an assessment of other such crossover events and what effect that they have had from my experience on audiences from all sides. “No, no,” said Muti, clearly with something else on his mind. “I meant will any romance come from all of this moving up and down?”

We love that America, via Chicago, helped Muti get his groove back.

 

Eloquently, Maestro Muti

(Above: Muti by Jim Newberry)

Maestro Muti on the events of the past couple months and the aftermath of rebuilding his shattered jaw:

“Not only the discomfort, but because you feel very humiliated as a human being. I couldn’t eat, of course. I had a tube attached here [pointing to where an IV would go on his arm]. In fact, when I go to a restaurant, still now, I have to eat very soft things because the muscles don’t allow me to chew,” he says, demonstrating his limited range of mouth motion. “Always when I go into a restaurant, I say to the waiter, ‘Look, I had an accident and cannot chew well, so I need to eat as either, you decide: either like an old man, or a baby, as you please,’ because it is the same thing.”

Muti Speaks on Italy's Changing Cultural Landscape

An interview with Riccardo Muti from The Times is now online where the Italian conductor talked about the crisis in Italy's culture-funding structure and how opera theaters are to survive despite government budget cuts to the arts. Gawd save the opera, gawd save the Muti.