Cinco de Muti

(Today's Sun-Times (5/6/08), and that ain't page 6, baby)

Riccardo Muti has accepted the CSO post and his much anticipated tenure will begin in 2010. Andrew Patner has all the goods on his blog and here's the New York Times' story from Daniel Wakin. The CSO's just added a page (or a shrine) to their site including a letter from president Deborah Card. Here's a snippet from Patner's article in the Sun-Times:

"At 69 in the fall of 2010, the vibrant Muti, known for his youthful appearance, will be the oldest incoming music director in the orchestra’s history. The legendary Fritz Reiner was 64 when he came to Chicago in 1953."

Although it's difficult to ignore, I'm not too concerned about Muti's age: he'll live 'til he's 100. Last September's performance of Prokofiev's 3rd at Orchestra Hall proved that. This is an amazing get and the CSO continues to outdo itself. update: I wrote a few cursory thoughts on the hire earlier this morning, which have now been loaded to TOC's blog. Mutimania is officially swingin'. update 2: Thank god for Andrew, as he's added more greatly great material on his blog.