Performing Arts

GENEVA – At La Scala, he rankled musicians and clashed with management, personifying, at least to some, the stereotype of the megalomaniac maestro.

SIGI TISCHLER/Keystone/The Associated Press

Riccardo Muti is the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's new music director.

Soon off to Chicago and looking to spread good will through music across the globe, Riccardo Muti – the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's new music director – is now preaching a different creed. He says any functioning orchestra has to be a democracy.

"I have the reputation around the world as Muti, Il Dittatore," the 67-year-old conductor told a small group of journalists in Geneva, where he was leading the Vienna Philharmonic in a concert to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the World Health Organization on Monday.

"But it's not so. It's because when I get to work, I say, 'Buongiorno, let's start.' "

Mr. Muti, a native of Naples, was music director of Milan's La Scala opera house from 1986 to 2005. He said his direct style with musicians – an Italian preference for "si o no" – might have ruffled some from other cultures used to the long, polite way of answering questions.

"A symphony is a democracy," he said. "People play different parts together. Every part must have its independence. But it must express itself without killing the independence of the other parts. Otherwise the democracy is killed. Questo e il concetto della musica" – that's the idea of music.

Mr. Muti begins a five-year contract as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in September of the 2010-11 season, filling a post that has been vacant since Daniel Barenboim left two years ago.

He resigned from La Scala in April 2005 after bitter differences with the opera house's former general manager, Carlo Fontana, that led to open conflict with the musicians after Mr. Fontana was dismissed.

Mr. Muti repeated his desire to reach out to people not usually found in the concert halls of Chicago, including the city's impoverished and criminals.

"In prison, I would not bring a whole orchestra," he said. "Maybe just me playing piano and one singer."

He also spoke of the "concerts for friendship" he has organized since the mid-1990s, when he performed in the war-damaged Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. He said more of these performances could help unite people where politics fail.

"When there's war, conflict, misunderstanding, different opinions, different races, different religions, different colors of skin ... we try to bring music," he said. "It lifts spirits and shows we all have the same soul, all have the same right to live here as people. That is our role as musicians."

Bradley S. Klapper,

The Associated Press

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