Riccardo Muti

Riccardo Muti has started his music directorship of the Chicago Symphony with a bang, pairing Hector Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique with its unusual and seldom-performed sequel, Lelio or The Return to Life, in four concerts last week. (The program will be repeated in New York during the orchestra's 2011 spring visit there.) Symphonie fantastique is subtitled "An episode in the life of an artist," and Lelio returns to the life of that artist in an hour-long piece that is a miniature concert in its own right, consisting of six pieces for vocalists, chorus, and orchestra linked by a dramatic monologue. For the Chicago concerts, Gerard Depardieu appeared as the artist-monologuist. I wish I could have been there, because this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; I hope it was captured on video and will be made available.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-09-24/entertainment/ct-live-0925-cso-review-20100924_1_riccardo-muti-cso-witches-sabbath

http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/music/2743428,CST-NWS-cso25web.article

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/25/arts/music/25muti.html

http://chicagoclassicalreview.com/2010/09/muti-sparks-exhilarating-cso-opener-with-berlioz-both-brilliant-and-bizarre/

UPDATE (10/17/2010): The Muti/Depardieu collaboration on Lelio is in fact available on DVD:

http://www.amazon.com/22Die-R%C3%83%C2%BCckkehr-Leben-22-Hector-Berlioz/dp/B003QUBTEM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1286208957&sr=8-1