In Saturday’s (1/12) Chicago Sun-Times (free registration required), Andrew Patner writes, “On Monday, Riccardo Muti, music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, arrived in Chicago for his two-week winter residency and to prepare the orchestra for a two-week, nine-concert, six-city Asia tour starting Jan. 25 in Taipei, Taiwan. On Tuesday, the CSO announced Muti had been hit by the flu epidemic and would have to withdraw for this week’s concerts. Dutch conductor Edo de Waart, 71, and Muti’s exact contemporary, would take over the four all-Beethoven concerts featuring guest pianist Radu Lupu. (De Waart, music director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, lives in Middleton, Wis., with his family.) On Wednesday afternoon, the CSO announced that the music director would have to cancel a second week of concerts and confirmed to the newspaper that Muti had returned to Italy. ‘He feels more comfortable recuperating at home,’ a CSO spokesperson said. De Waart was again available, but this times with major changes to the announced program, which is also to be taken on the scheduled tour. … Neither Muti nor CSO management has yet made any statement on Muti’s setbacks or when he might have informed anyone of his sudden departure on a trans-Atlantic flight.”
Posted January 14, 2013
