On September 18, 2013, Riccardo Muti led the Orchestra in a free community concert at Morton East High School in Cicero. Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association president Deborah F. Rutter welcomed the capacity crowd (with Spanish translation provided by CSO horn Oto Carrillo). Following the performance, Muti thanked the 2,400 people in attendance, adding that music is “among the few things that can bring people together.”

Riccardo Muti and Chicago Symphony Chorus mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Gray at the Illinois Youth Center in Warrenville on September 27, 2010 (Todd Rosenberg photo)

With the Orchestra, Muti conducted Brahms’s Second Symphony; selections from Verdi’s La forza del destino with soprano Barbara Frittoli, bass Luca Dall’Amico, and men of the Chicago Symphony Chorus; and selections from Verdi’s Nabucco: the overture and “Va, pensiero” featuring community choruses City Voices, Kol Zimrah, North Shore Choral society, and the Wicker Park Choral Singers, along with men of the Chicago Symphony Chorus.

In addition to free performances at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, Muti also led a community concert on September 22, 2011, at the Apostolic Church of God in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood, conducting the Orchestra in Verdi’s Overture to Giovanna d’Arco, Ibert’s Flute Concerto with principal flute Mathieu Dufour, and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony. With musicians from the Orchestra, Chorus, and guest artists, Muti also has brought music to the residents of the Illinois Youth Centers in Warrenville and Chicago and the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center.

Image above: Riccardo Muti leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Morton East High School in Cicero on September 18, 2013 (Todd Rosenberg photo)

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