Muti Conducts Respighi’s Pines of Rome at Millennium Park

OVERVIEW

Riccardo Muti conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Respighi’s Pines of Rome at Millennium Park during his inaugural concert as the orchestra’s tenth music director. These interviews and performance excerpt were recorded on September 19, 2010.

On September 19, 2010, the city of Chicago joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for a momentous celebration. A crowd of 12,000 Chicagoans filled the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, with an additional 13,000 throughout Millennium Park, to welcome Riccardo Muti on what Mayor Richard M. Daley declared “Riccardo Muti Day.”

Festa Muti buttons were pinned to jackets and Muti flags were waved in the air. Nearby skyscrapers spelled out “CSO” and “MUTI” in lights. After a performance in which “Muti was in superb form, and the orchestra played its collective heart out for him” (Chicago Tribune), a surprise fireworks display lit up the sky. The maestro said in his closing remarks: “Stay close, be very proud of your orchestra. Music directors come and go. . . but the glory of the orchestra is your future. And as wonderful as music is in the fresh air, it is even better in the concert hall.”

For additional videos of Riccardo Muti, visit riccardomutimusic.com.

PERFORMERS

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti conductor