The aristocrat of conductors, the autocrat of the baton, Riccardo Muti cuts
a noble figure at the head of any orchestra, and ennobles every ensemble
through his charismatic personality and red-blooded musicality. In many
respects, including his unwillingness to compromise over artistic matters,
he is reminiscent of the great Arturo Toscanini, who was also a demanding
ruler at the podium. Born in Naples in 1941, Muti studied at the
Conservatory of his native city, where one of his teachers was the later
celebrated film-score composer Nino Rota. He made his breakthrough as a
conductor in 1967, when he won an important competition, and was appointed
principal conductor of the prestigious Maggio Musicale in Florence in 1969.
His rise to international fame set in with his guest conductorships at the
Salzburg Festival in 1971 and at the head of the Berlin Philharmonic and
the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1972. Muti became principal guest conductor
of the Philadelphia Orchestra a few years later, and was named its music
director in 1980, succeeding the legendary Eugene Ormandy. Always a
conductor of both the symphonic and operatic repertoire, Muti advanced to
the post of music director of La Scala in Milan in 1986. The 1990s saw Muti
consolidating his reputation at the head of this venerable institution, as
well as in countless other high-caliber venues around the world. Today he
is one of the undisputed giants among the leading conductors of the world.
"Così fan tutte" contains some of Mozart's loveliest arias and the greatest
number of ensembles in any of his operas. Although its libretto is often
said to be frivolous, it is a foil for Mozart's lucid and utterly
non-Romantic view of the sexes. Director Roberto de Simone captures both
the comedic and tragic core of the work from within and makes its depth
palpable. Since the beginning of the 1990s, conductor Riccardo Muti has
been increasingly making a name for himself as a Mozart specialist.
Austria's leading daily "Die Presse" gushed: "Roberto de Simone simply
directs the work itself in harmony with Riccardo Muti, who does the same
in the orchestra pit .. a triumphal reprise at the Vienna State Opera." And
the "Neue Kronen Zeitung" reported that "Muti wonderfully polished his
successful Vienna 'Così' with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra: Mozart
played with an abundance of freshness, impulsiveness and humor."
