Riccardo Muti was born in Naples, Italy, in 1941. He studied at the Naples Conservatoire, and later in Milan. When still in his twenties, he was appointed principal conductor of the prestigious Florence music festival, the Maggio Musicale. In 1972 he made his American dÈbut with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and went on to become that orchestraís Principal Conductor in 1980.
In London he brought his strong italianate style to regular concerts with the Philharmonia Orchestra in the seventies, and held its post of Musical Director from 1979 to 1982.
In 1986 he beat his Italian rival, the greatly respected Maestro, Claudio Abbado, for the most prestigious job in the opera business: Music Director of La Scala, Milan. In contrast with Abbadoís quiet authority, much admired by his fellow musicians, Maestro Muti brings to the opera house and concert platforms of the world a fiery, but stylish, showmanship.
Conductors can be dictators or enablers. Muti is a keen disciplinarian on the concert platform and in the pit. He is also noted in opera for his cleaning up of scores for performance. His singers are not allowed to sing traditionally optional notes that are not in the original manuscript editions. This means that many a tenor or soprano top C will not be heard in a Muti performance - though itís uncertain to what extent all of the great Italian opera composers frowned on, or welcomed, the practice of inserting such optionals.
