CSOradio
CSOradio
Martin Briens, Ambassador of France to Italy, shakes Riccardo Muti's hand after the presentation of the Commander of the Legion of Honor honor..
Todd Rosenberg Photography
Just hours before the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s final concert of the 2024 European Tour in Rome, Riccardo Muti, the Orchestra’s Music Director Emeritus for Life, was officially bestowed the title of Commandeur de la Légion d’honneur (Commander of the Legion of Honor).
The ceremony on January 29, 2024, took place in the Hall of Farnese Glories at the Palazzo Farnese, a stunning example of 16th-century Renaissance architecture that is home to the French Embassy in Rome. The location may be familiar to opera aficionados who may recognize it as the location of Act 2 of Puccini’s Tosca, a fitting choice given Muti’s strong connections to Italian opera.
On this occasion, Martin Briens, Ambassador of France to Italy, awarded Muti, formerly a knight and then an officer (presented to Muti by former French President Nicolas Sarkozy in a private ceremony held at the Élysée Palace in 2010), with the highest title of the same order — Commander — on behalf of the President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron. Non-French nationals can be recognized in the order of the Legion of Honor for serving France or the ideals it upholds.
Ambassador Briens noted Muti’s distinguished career with major orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony and at opera houses around the world, as well as his commitment to young musicians and the ongoing Roads of Friendship project that has brought music to “highly symbolic places,” including Sarajevo, Beirut, and Jerusalem, among others.
He also recognized Muti’s ongoing ’’connection with France’’ citing his debut with the Orchestre National de France at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in 1980, an ensemble with which he has a 44-year history, and where it was announced at the ceremony that he will return to conduct on October 4, 2024.
Muti accepted the award and thanked the Ambassador for the great honor received, as well as those present who included Muti’s wife Cristina Mazzavilliani Muti and other members of his immediate family, more than 20 CSO musicians, including many principal players, as well as CSOA Board Chair Mary Louise Gorno and CSOA President Jeff Alexander among others.
To conclude the ceremony, CSO trombone Michael Mulcahy introduced a surprise musical finale in honor of what he described as an “ auspicious and noble occasion” as the CSO Brass Quintet — Esteban Batallán, (trumpet), John Hagstrom (trumpet), David Griffin (horn), Michael Mulcahy (trombone), Gene Pokorny (tuba) — performed “Fanfare pour précéder La Péri,” by French composer Paul Dukas and an arrangement of “Va Pensiero” from Verdi’s Nabucco.
