Musician training, community concerts are key parts of Muti’s legacy

Since the beginning of his tenure as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s 10th music director, Riccardo Muti has prioritized educational programs and community-engagement initiatives that expand access to music for Chicagoans of all ages and backgrounds.

On Sept. 19, 2010, Muti inaugurated a new tradition of annual, free community concerts with a performance at Millennium Park’s Pritzker Pavilion before a crowd of more than 25,000 people. With support from the Negaunee Music Institute at the CSO, he also has played a key role in developing new programs and building upon existing efforts to train the next generation of musicians.

Sir Georg Solti Conducting Apprentice of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

In October 2009, Maestro Muti announced the creation of the CSO’s Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition and Apprenticeship. “I feel it is very important to identify conductors early in their development and to encourage them to study, not only to understand deeply the structure and content of the music, but also to know what it is they want to convey when they stand in front of an orchestra and chorus and how to communicate it,” Muti said of the new program.

Sean Kubota won the first competition in February 2011 and was named the Sir Georg Solti Conducting Apprentice of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Matthew Aucoin (2013-15) and Erina Yashima (2015-19) succeeded Kubota in the role. The apprenticeship includes financial support, mentorship from Muti and opportunities to participate in programs of the Negaunee Music Institute.

The fourth Solti apprentice, Lina González-Granados, took up the post in November 2019, and her tenure was extended through June 2023 due to the pandemic. In addition to working with Maestro Muti, she has conducted the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, mentored students through the Chicago Youth in Music Festival and made her CSO podium debut.

“Where else would I be able to have this experience?” González-Granados said of her time as Solti apprentice. “It’s such a powerful thing. I’m never going to be the same again.”

Chicago Youth in Music Festival

Since 2009, the Chicago Youth in Music Festival has nurtured young orchestral musicians through partnerships with local, national and international music education organizations. While the activities vary from year to year, the festival typically includes coaching sessions and side-by-side rehearsals with members of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, as well as guest conductors.

Riccardo Muti has led several open rehearsals with the Chicago Youth in Music Festival Orchestra over the years, most recently in March 2022. Fifty members of the 2022 Festival Orchestra were students from Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, Atlanta, Nashville, San Antonio, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Washington, D.C. With an audience of more than 800 in attendance, these young musicians rehearsed alongside musicians from the CSO, Civic Orchestra and Chicago Sinfonietta’s Project Inclusion.

“To work with Maestro Muti — it gives [students] the opportunity to dream, the opportunity to think, ‘This is something that could be part of my future,’” said Adrienne Thompson, vice president for enrollment and student services at Merit School of Music and project adviser for the Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative.

Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative

Founded in the 2019/20 Season, the Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative prepares young musicians from underrepresented backgrounds to attend top music schools. The CSO’s Negaunee Music Institute is a co-founding organization and lead partner of the CMPI. Select CSO and Civic Orchestra musicians are private teachers or mentors for CMPI fellows, in addition to leading audition preparation workshops, master classes and panel discussions. Fellows also are invited to observe select Civic Orchestra seminars led by CSO musicians.

During the hiatus from live concerts in 2020/21, Riccardo Muti led a remote coaching session with five CMPI fellows via Zoom from his home in Italy. The fellows performed selections from Verdi’s String Quartet in E Minor and Mozart’s Oboe Quartet onstage in Orchestra Hall, joined by current and past members of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and Chicago Sinfonietta’s Project Inclusion.

“One thing that he emphasized a lot was bringing out the joy,” said CMPI oboist Zachary Allen after working with Muti. “His general demeanor during the whole coaching session made it feel more fun and not stressful.”

“Playing for the maestro was one of the highlights of my musical career,” said CMPI violinist Esme Arias-Kim.

Maestro Muti reconnected with some of these young musicians in person during the 2022 Chicago Youth in Music Festival. Allen performed a solo in Lizst’s Les preludes during the Festival Orchestra’s open rehearsal with Muti, who greeted the oboist and congratulated him on his excellent playing.

Juvenile Prison Partnerships

Launched by Riccardo Muti early in his tenure as CSO music director, musical projects for incarcerated youth have engaged young people in the care of the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice.

Maestro Muti has visited Illinois Youth Centers annually to present interactive recitals alongside guest opera singers and CSO musicians. Additionally, site-specific projects have been developed and implemented by the Negaunee Music Institute in partnership with specialists in the field of youth development and juvenile justice.

“Our youth need the opportunity to explore their talents and creativity. Music is known to heal the soul, and creating music heals the mind as well,” said Michael D. Byrd, assistant superintendent of programs at Illinois Youth Center — Chicago.

With participation by musicians of the CSO and Civic Orchestra, 2022/23 projects occurred at the Illinois Youth Center — Chicago, where youth composed and performed original music. Select participants also took field trips to Symphony Center for concerts and open rehearsals. Projects are presented in partnership with The Irene Taylor Trust: Music in Prisons and other guest teaching artists.

Civic Orchestra of Chicago

Founded in 1919 by the CSO’s second music director, Frederick Stock, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago prepares young professional musicians for lives in music. Civic members participate in rigorous orchestral training led by Principal Conductor Ken-David Masur, musicians of the CSO and some of today’s most luminary conductors, including Riccardo Muti. The Civic Orchestra also performs free concerts in Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center and in communities across greater Chicago. On May 22, Muti will lead the Civic Orchestra in a public open rehearsal of Mussorgsky’s Pictures from an Exhibition, exploring Ravel’s iconic orchestration in this evocative suite.

CSO Fellowship

Developed with input from Riccardo Muti, the CSO Members’ Committee and Chicago Federation of Musicians, the CSO Fellowship Program was launched in the spring of 2022. The program is currently open to early-career string players who have graduated from a college, university or conservatory and are from populations traditionally underrepresented in American symphony orchestras, including, but not limited to, those who identify as Black, Latino or Indigenous. CSO Fellows rehearse and perform with the CSO, work with top conductors and receive training and mentorship from CSO musicians to become better equipped to win auditions with top U.S. orchestras, including the CSO.

Venezuelan-born violinist Gabriela Lara began her tenure as the first CSO Fellow in September 2022, and she will continue in the role during the 2023/24 Season. In May 2023, additional CSO Fellows for the upcoming season were announced: violinist Jesús Linárez and bassist Olivia Reyes.

Of her time in the program thus far, Lara said, “I have enjoyed every day that I have been at Symphony Center. I would say one of the most stand-out memories is the first rehearsal with Maestro Muti. He is such an incredible person and conductor. The environment and the orchestra that day were perfect. That is when I said, ‘This is what I want!’”

Education on Tour

While on tour, Maestro Muti and CSO musicians offer master classes, chamber concerts and open rehearsals that reach people in hospitals, social service organizations, schools, universities and conservatories across North America, Europe, Asia and Central America. Most recently, Muti conducted an open rehearsal with the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Glenn Gould School Orchestra in Toronto during the CSO’s 2023 North American tour.

Community Concerts and Open Rehearsals

Since the first Concert for Chicago in September 2010, Muti has continued to conduct free community concerts annually in venues across the Chicago area, including Millennium Park, Apostolic Church of God, Morton East High School and Lane Tech College Prep High School. In addition, select CSO rehearsals have been opened to students, seniors, veterans and community groups each season.

“There’s no mistaking Maestro Muti’s delight and satisfaction when engaging with the public at Millennium Park or community concerts throughout the region,” said CSO Assistant Principal Horn Daniel Gingrich.

On June 27, Muti and the CSO will perform a final Concert for Chicago together at Millennium Park. As Muti closes the 2022/23 Season and a remarkable chapter in the history of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, his legacy will live on as the CSO and the Negaunee Music Institute continue to invest in the next generation of musicians and share music with communities across Chicago and around the world.