“The last time Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Riccardo Muti conducted a concert, Feb. 23 in Orchestra Hall, few of us realized that the music was about to stop … in the wake of the deadly coronavirus,” writes Howard Reich in Monday’s (3/23) Chicago Tribune. “After Muti’s last CSO concert [of] Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 2 and 5 and Nicolas Bacri’s ‘Ophelia’s Tears,’ the conductor returned to his home in Ravenna, Italy—and has been there ever since. Italy now stands as the coronavirus’ epicenter…. ‘In every detail, it’s so tragic,’ said Muti…. Some comfort and consolation … can be found in music. This is why, he said, we all have seen so many videos of Italians singing together outside their apartments… The conductor … has immersed himself in … Beethoven’s ‘Missa Solemnis.’ Muti is scheduled to conduct the CSO in the massive composition Sept. 24-26 in Orchestra Hall…. ‘In “Missa Solemnis” you just go deeply in the music,’ he said. ‘It is so metaphysical, mysterious.’ … As for his colleagues and friends in Chicago, … he said that he misses them greatly…. ‘Psychologically, it’s possible that we will be different immediately after this disease disappears…. But then we will find ourselves again,’ he said.”
Change font size
