Riccardo Muti faces ban for life at La Scala
mainWe hear that musicians at La Scala, Milan, have requested a lifetime ban on their former music director, Riccardo Muti, following disgraceful scenes at his concert last week with the Vienna Philharmonic.
Muti initially insulted and shouted at his successor Riccardo Chailly, who had given up his own private room to the distinguished guest. After the concert, he called for a microphone to address the audience and was ignored by stage staff. He proceeded to shout half-comprehensible and generally irrelevant comments about Toscanini’s return to La Scala in 1946.
Since his stormy departure 16 years ago, Muti has returned to La Scala with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony but has never agreed to conduct a concert with the Scala orchestra, let alone to conduct an opera. He has now left behind a sense of outrage and orchestra members are adamant that they do not want to see him again.
Muti, however, is planning an appearance in Milan on December 7, the night that Chailly will open La Scala’s season with Verdi’s Nabucco.
Muti, who turns 80 in July, will be on the other side of town that night with his Italian Opera Academy in the Fondazione Prada with Verdi’s Nabucco.
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