Muti ends 13 seasons with Chicago Symphony Orchestra with praise and honors — and Beethoven

By RONALD BLUM
Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — Riccardo Muti has ended 13 seasons as Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s music director with praise and a series of honors. The 81-year-old Italian was given the new title music director emeritus for life during weekend performances of Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis” at Orchestra Hall. He ended his tenure Tuesday night the way he began it, with a free public concert in Millennium Park. His 540th performance with the orchestra and 508th as music director wasn’t a final goodbye, While the search for a successor goes on, Muti agreed to conduct the CSO for six weeks in each of the next two seasons.