Riccardo Muti

Acting

Riccardo Muti

Born 1941-07-28 · Naples, Campania, Italy

Riccardo Muti (born 28 July 1941) is an Italian conductor. He is current music director of the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini. Muti has previously held posts at the Maggio Musicale in Florence, the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Salzburg Whitsun Festival, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He was named Music Director Emeritus in Chicago in 2023. A prolific recording artist, Muti has received numerous honours and awards, including two Grammy Awards. He is especially associated with the music of Giuseppe Verdi. Among the world's leading conductors, in a 2015 Bachtrack poll he was ranked by music critics as the world's fifth best living conductor. Muti was born in Naples but he spent his early childhood in Molfetta, near Bari, in the long region of Apulia on Italy's southern Adriatic coast. His father, Domenico, was a pathologist in Molfetta, as well as an amateur singer and great music lover; his mother, Gilda, was a reserved and severe Neapolitan woman with five children. Muti graduated from Liceo classico (Classical Lyceum) Vittorio Emanuele II in Naples, then studied piano at the Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella under Vincenzo Vitale; here Muti was awarded a diploma cum laude. He was subsequently awarded a diploma in Composition and Conducting by the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory, Milan, where he studied with the composer Bruno Bettinelli and the conductor Antonino Votto. He has also studied composition with Nino Rota, whom he considers a mentor. He was unanimously awarded first place by the jury of the "Guido Cantelli Competition for Conductors" in Milan in 1967 and became, the next year, principal conductor and music director of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, a post he held for eleven years. Since 1971 he has been a frequent conductor of operas and concerts at the Salzburg Festival, where he is particularly known for his Mozart opera performances. From 1972 Muti regularly conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra in London and in 1973 he was appointed its principal conductor, succeeding Otto Klemperer. In 1979, Muti became the music director and principal conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra. In 1986, he became principal conductor of the Filarmonica della Scala, Milan, with which in 1988 he received the Viotti d'Oro and toured Europe. In 1989 he conducted a live performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni that was recorded on a DVD. In 1991, after twelve years as music director, he announced his resignation from the Philadelphia Orchestra, effective at the end of the 1991–1992 season. In 1995 he was the president of the jury of the International Composing Competition "2 Agosto". Muti has been a regular guest of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic. In 1996, he conducted the Vienna Philharmonic during Vienna Festival Week and on tour to Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Germany; he most recently toured with the Vienna Philharmonic to Japan in 2008. Muti has also led the orchestra's Vienna New Year's Concert on seven occasions to date: in 1993, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2018, 2021 and 2025. ... Source: Article "Riccardo Muti" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.

Acting credits

Conducting Mahler poster
9.0

Documents the interpretations of Gustav Mahler's compositions by conductors Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Chailly, Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado, and Simon Rattle, who detail the special relationship they have with Mahler's work.

Conducting Mahler

2002

The Magic Flute poster
6.5

The Queen of the Night enlists a handsome prince named Tamino to rescue her beautiful kidnapped daughter, Princess Pamina. Aided by the lovelorn bird hunter Papageno and a magical flute that holds the power to change the hearts of men, young Tamino embarks on a quest for true love, leading to the evil Sarastro's temple where Pamina is held captive. The Pierre Audi production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte was recorded live at the 2006 Salzburger Festpiele.

The Magic Flute

2006

Europa Riconosciuta poster
9.0

Diana Damrau performs the title role of Salieri's opera staged in the Teatro alla Scala in 2004. Riccardo Muti conducts the Teatro alla Scala Orchestra and Chorus with the cast also including Desirée Rancatore as Semele and Genia Kühmeier as Asterio.

Europa Riconosciuta

2004

Concert in honor of and in the presence of Pope Leo XIV poster
NR

On the occasion of Christmas 2025, from the Paul VI Hall in Vatican City, Maestro Riccardo Muti conducts the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra, accompanied by the Guido Chigi Saracini Choir of Siena Cathedral.

Concert in honor of and in the presence of Pope Leo XIV

2025

Stabat Mater poster
NR

Filmed in the Santuario della Beata Vergine dei Miracoli in Saronno, the DVD set Pergolesi's music against the background of the magnificent cupola frescoes of Gaudenzio Ferrari

Stabat Mater

Porpora • Mozart • Haydn poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Porpora • Mozart • Haydn

2002

New Year's Concert 2025 poster
NR

New Year's concert 2025 of Vienna Philharmonic with Riccardo Muti.

New Year's Concert 2025

2025

Neujahrskonzert 2004 poster
9.0

The Vienna Philharmonic's 2004 New Year's Concert was conducted by Riccardo Muti and featured a traditional program of music by the Strauss family and their contemporaries, performing well-known pieces like the "An der schönen blauen Donau" waltz and the "Radetzkymarsch". The event took place at the Musikverein in Vienna, the orchestra's home, and was broadcast to a massive global audience. It is part of a long-standing tradition of the Vienna Philharmonic to present this concert, which is considered a significant event in the classical music calendar.

Neujahrskonzert 2004

2004

Stanotte al Museo Egizio poster
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

Stanotte al Museo Egizio

2015

I vespri Siciliani poster
9.0

The story revolves around a Sicilian rebellion against the French, fueled by themes of oppression, freedom, and the personal costs of conflict. The opera explores a love triangle, a troubled father-son relationship, and culminates in a bloody uprising during a wedding celebration.

I vespri Siciliani

1990

Europakonzert 2009 from Naples poster
NR

Verdi: " La forza del destino", overture Martucci: "La canzone dei ricordi" Schubert: The "Great" Symphony No. 8 in C Major, D 944

Europakonzert 2009 from Naples

2009

Ludwig van Beethoven: Missa Solemnis op.123 poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Missa Solemnis op.123

New Year's Concert 2021 poster
5.0

Having enjoyed a 50-year musical partnership with the Vienna Philharmonic, Riccardo Muti takes charge of the celebrations for the sixth time in what’s bound to be a uniquely poignant occasion. The concert includes the traditional mix of Austrian classics, featuring music by the Strauss family and ending with the ever-popular By the Beautiful Blue Danube and the foot-stamping Radetzky March. In these uncertain times, the concert looks to send people all over the world a new year's greeting in the spirit of hope, friendship and peace.

New Year's Concert 2021

2021

New Year's Concert 2018 poster
NR

For the New Year’s Concert 2018 world-renowned conductor Riccardo Muti returns to conduct the New Year’s Concert for the fifth time. He has conducted the Vienna Philharmonic for over 500 concerts, has a very close connection to the orchestra and is one of the most engaged New Year’s Concert conductors. Italian conductor Muti holds two music directorships: the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini. A prolific recording artist, Muti has received dozens of honors, titles, awards and prizes throughout his career.

New Year's Concert 2018

2018

Muti conducts Verdi’s Requiem poster
NR

Riccardo Muti guides the audience through Giuseppe Verdi’s sacred composition, accompanied by the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra, where the audience will have the opportunity to immerse themselves fully in this great music and experience first-hand all the preparatory stages of the concert, right up to the final performance of the work.

Muti conducts Verdi’s Requiem

2022

Manon Lescaut poster
NR

TDK presents a recording of Puccini’s heart-breaking opera from one of the best opera houses of the world featuring star tenor José Cura and remarkable soprano Maria Guleghina as the two inseparable lovers. Riccardo Muti, music director of La Scala at the time of this performance, gives full weight to the alternation of social realism and private amatory psychology, of crowds and intimacy, body and spirit. And the director of this Milan production, the famous Italian film director Liliana Cavani, provides it with a realistic setting. Every scene looks like a genre painting, from which Puccini’s psychograms emerge musically. This forms the background for the two outstanding singer actors, who take the lead roles.

Manon Lescaut

1998

No artwork available
8.0

It truly is an historic performance. Domingo looking and singing like a god pouring out golden tones; Renato Bruson sounds, like the sublime Verdian Baritone that he was at that time; Nicolai Ghiaurov proves again that he was one of the greatest "Verdi Basses"; Mirella Freni shows that there was more to her than just being Mimi and Susannah-in fact I can remember reading that at the time of the premiere of this production that there were fist fights (not unusual in La Scala's gallery) between Mirella's many fans--between those fans that just wanting her to continue singing the light lyric repertoire that they were use to her singing and those that felt she should and could sing the lyric-spinto repertoire which, of course, she proved that,indeed, she could (She's still singing more than twenty years later). This performance captures some of the best Verdi singers of the time doing dear ole wonderful Giuseppi proud.

Verdi Ernani

1982

Nino Rota: Between Cinema and Concert poster
6.5

A look at the life and work of composer Nino Rota.

Nino Rota: Between Cinema and Concert

1993

A Magic Friend: The Maestro Nino Rota poster
6.5

The artistic evolution of the great composer, whose work left an indelible mark in the history of Italian cinema. In this documentary Nino Rota's extraordinary musical production relives in the words of his friends and colleagues. His collaboration with Visconti and Fellini are truly memorable. His movie score and sequences of his performances in theaters all over the world hand us down a full and evocative outline of this outstanding artist.

A Magic Friend: The Maestro Nino Rota

1994

Otello poster
9.0

This was Domingo's last set of performances as Otello in La Scala. In spite of his relatively advanced age, he is still in excellent form, both vocally and in terms of stage presence. Nucci is also his usual self, delivering a performance of very high standard. Barbara Frittoli is an excellent Desdemona, in good voice and gives a very moving performance. Muti conducts with great emotion and tight accuracy, conveying the full orchestral drama of the score.

Otello

2001

Don Giovanni poster
8.0

The 2004 Opus Arte DVD release of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni (recorded at Teatro alla Scala in 1987) is highly regarded by English-language critics as a definitive "traditional" production, notable for its legendary collaboration between conductor Riccardo Muti and director Giorgio Strehler.

Don Giovanni

1987

I Wiener Philharmoniker e Riccardo Muti: una lunga amicizia in musica poster
NR

A concert to celebrate Maestro Muti's 80th birthday, conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra from the podium of La Scala in Milan.

I Wiener Philharmoniker e Riccardo Muti: una lunga amicizia in musica

2021

Mozart: Symphonies 40 & 41 poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Mozart: Symphonies 40 & 41

2006

No artwork available
NR

The film is a rendition of Resurrection, Tolstoy’s last novel. It begins with a reading of the beginning of the first part in Naples, in September 2012. It moves on to Berlin, Locarno 2013, Oneglia, Paris, Casalborgone, and it ends in Milan with the beginning of the second part. The places and times change, and so do the people doing the reading. But also, in the middle, real people and voices surface, like Adamo Vergine at his home and Jean François Neplaz in Marseilles. The film searches for the possible faces of Tolstoy’s two protagonists in Oneglia, Procida, and Casalborgone.

Resurrection

2019