STORY AND LINKS: Tim Mangan on Riccardo Muti -- a definite "worth read"

By Robert D. Thomas

Music Critic

Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News

Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra are coming to Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa next Friday (Feb. 17). Tim Mangan, the Orange County Register's classical music critic (when he's not covering the celebrity beat) has just posted an excellent article based on a phone interview with Muti, the CSO's music director, who will conduct the concert. Conductors like Muti aren't easy to corral for interviews but Tim really made the most of his opportunity -- I learned more about Muti from this article than almost any I've read. Here's a LINK.

Friday's CSO program (sponsored by the Orange County Philharmonic Society) is quite out of the ordinary for a tour concert: Pacific 231 by Swiss composer Arthur Honegger (a piece based on trains); Alternative Energy, a new work by CSO Composer-in-Residence Mason Bates; and Franck's Symphony in D minor, once a repertory staple but now mostly languishing in obscurity. Information: www.philharmonicsociety.org

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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.