Muti celebrates milestone birthday with new cultural connections

Just one day after celebrating his 80th birthday, Riccardo Muti, Zell Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, was back on the podium for a historic performance with the Luigi Cherubini Orchestra on July 29, 2021. The concert, presented at the Quirinale Palace in Rome and attended by Italian President Sergio Mattarella, was the featured performance presented for cultural ministers attending the first-ever G20 Cultural Minister’s Meeting on July 29 and 30 in Rome and hosted by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Italian Cultural Minister Dario Franceschini. The two-day Cultural Summit was created to acknowledge the crucial role that culture plays in daily life and in the health of the global economy. At the conclusion of the summit, the delegates adopted a 32-point document that formally adds the cultural sector to the G20 process, also recognizing its economic value.

After his concert appearance in Rome, Muti traveled to Naples where his 80th birthday was recognized during a special celebration on July 30 at the Conservatory of Naples San Pietro a Majella, where Muti received his musical training. The special event, hosted by the alumni association of the conservatory, also included Muti’s receipt of the Guido Dorso Prize, acknowledging Muti as a distinguished “Ambassador of the South” for his great artistic and cultural commitment, and for his particular attention to the new generations of musicians. The celebration in Naples was one of several significant moments that marked Muti’s milestone birthday, which also included Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Mayoral proclamation recognizing July 28, 2021, as “Riccardo Muti Day” in Chicago and Muti’s acceptance as an honorary member into the Russian Academy of Arts on the occasion of his 80th birthday.

Before leaving Naples, Muti participated in a July 31 program with young musicians hosted by the group Musica Libera Tutti (Free Music for Everyone). Founded in 2011, the group offers free music instruction to youth in the Scampia area of the city, which has suffered from unemployment rates of more than 50% and the impact of the drug trade, creating a dangerous environment for residents. For this special program, Muti led more than 20 musicians in an open rehearsal of the first movement of Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G Minor with family members and volunteers in attendance, speaking about his love for music, the city of Naples and for culture and history, encouraging them to cultivate these values in the face of persistent misperceptions about Naples.