A CONDUCTOR SPEAKS!

Riccardo Muti, Music Director of the Chicago Symphony, has never been afraid to speak his mind, even if the result could be disastrous. Norman Lebrecht (he of often vitriolic opinions) wrote of Muti's departure from La Scala in 2005:

He declared that he could no longer make music in “the atmosphere created by the insinuations, the insults, and the incomprehension.” But, said Lebrecht, He did not for one moment intend to resign. This was just a common or Covent Garden maestro huff of the kind that Muti threw last autumn when the Royal Opera House tinkered with La Scala's sets for Forza del Destino and Muti refused to conduct (ROH chief Antonio Pappano stepped in). No-one was astonished. The opera world has got used to Muti's limited vocabulary, an emotive lexicon lacking in compromise. There is only one way to work with Muti: his way.

He appears to have mellowed with age, but unabashedly says what he feels. John von Rhein reports in the Chicago Tribune: 

   Riccardo Muti is fond of quoting the early Christian theologian and philosopher St. Augustine's famous dictum about music and musicians, "Cantare amantis est" ("Singing belongs to the one who loves"). The Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director interprets the quotation more broadly: Making music belongs to the one who loves.
   That much could be said to typify the Italian conductor's career and would appear to have taken on even greater personal significance during his Indian-summer tenure in Chicago.

Speaking of the CSO's financial situation (and possibly reflecting on the increasing deficits throughout many of the nation's cultural institutions):

"You cannot maintain a great orchestra at this level if the refrain is constantly 'we have to cut this and cut that,' " he said in an interview in Chicago. (The CSO Association reported a $1.3 million operating deficit for fiscal 2015, its fifth such deficit in a row.) "In the end, that becomes demoralizing to the musicians. I am not telling everyone to just open their wallets — we must be realistic. But I would like to see everyone in the institution support this great orchestra with the same fire the musicians bring to their performances on their best nights."

The CSO may be even better than when Muti assumed the podium in 2010, a move that was unconvincing to me. Since then, the city (and the world) has revelled in the orchestra's resurgence.

The conductor said one of his top priorities this season will be to sit down with key CSO Association board members to find solutions to problems that, if left unsolved, could, in his view, undermine the institutional foundation in the years ahead. "I want to hear their opinions and share my ideas, as a musician of the world," Muti said. "Together, I hope we can do better to bring this orchestra to a position of wider appreciation for everything we do to bring bellezza (beauty) and culture to this city and the world."

In January, Muti returns to Milan for concerts with the CSO. Everything comes full circle.

Teatro Alla Scala, Milan

Why is opera a "big deal" everywhere except at the Met?

Well? That really is a toughie.

Norman Lebrecht, no fan of the Met, and even less so of its CEO, Peter Gelb, recently posted on his Slipped Disc blog:

The Munich opera festival has announced the sum of its ticket sales: 99.92 percent.

The Tirol Festival at Erl has just turned in results: 99.19 percent.

Sold out, to all intents and purposes.

To anyone who has attended a sold-out event, the excitement exists before the curtain rises. That gives a huge lift to the performers and allows the administrators to plan with confidence for the future. The atmospheric benefit is felt all around the country.

It has been a very long while since the Metropolitan Opera had a full house. An air of defeat has settled on the house. Maybe the solution is to close off 2,000 seats and pretend that it’s full.

The absence of that full feeling diminishes everything that is presented on stage.

The Met: Yes, it's damn big (but full in this shot)

Of course, this isn't the full story. The Metropolitan Opera is a behemoth in every way. At nearly 4,000 seats, it is pretty much locked out of anything but the warhorses of old. Baroque opera--experiencing a resurgence just about everywhere? Forget about it. Anything considered a "chamber piece"? The same. I often wonder the same thing about Mozart. Don Giovanni had its first performance at a theater (still standing) that seats 650!

But what about these festival houses selling out?

National Theater, Munich: European intimacy

• National Theater Munich: 2,100 seats. At the festival, several smaller venues are employed for recitals and other performances. The festival runs from late June through July.

Festpielhaus Erl: that's one steep "rake."

• The Festspielhaus Erl is the main venue for the Tirol Festival. It seats 862 and the festival runs for roughly three weeks in July.

It needs to be noted that both avoid a conflict with the extremely popular Salzburg Festival, which runs from July 22 to August 31. For the record, the Großes Festspielhaus (Great Concert Hall) has barely more seats than Munich.

Großes Festspielhaus, Salzburg

While the Met has many troubles, including the mammoth size of the house (and more), it accomplishes nothing to compare apples to oranges.