Riccardo Muti conducts Cherubini
The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra and Choir perform Luigi Cherubini's Mass for the Coronation of Charles X in A major. Conducting at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino will be the esteemed Italian conductor Riccardo Muti, a maestro who is a Grammy Award winner and a former student of the Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella. With such a talented conductor and a world-class orchestra and choir, this concert is set to be a highlight of this season's classical music performances in Florence.
Born in 1760, Luigi Cherubini was a composer whose career spanned the late classical music era and early Romantic period. He wrote many sacred works, including seven mass settings. The Mass for the Coronation of Charles X, originally entitled Troisième Messe solennelle à trois parties en chœur avec accompagnements à grand orchestre, was composed in 1825, a few years after Cherubini had taken up the role of director of the Conservatoire de Paris. The first performance of the work took place at the new French King's coronation on 29 May 1825, following the restoration of the monarchy, at Reims Cathedral. The work includes the traditional sections of the Mass, from the opening Kyrie to the concluding Agnus Dei, as well as additional music for the coronation ceremony. Cherubini would continue to serve the royal court until the July Revolution of 1830, an event which led to Charles' abdication. He died in Paris, his adopted city, in 1842, aged 81.
Riccardo Muti is no stranger to the Florentine concert stage. Indeed, he became the principal conductor of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in 1968, a position he held until 1980. The Italian conductor is known for shining a light on many rarely performed and overlooked works. Over the years, these have included numerous works from the 18th-century Neapolitan school, as well as operas by Gluck, Spontini and Cherubini. In 2004, Muti founded a youth orchestra named for Luigi Cherubini. It is made up of young musicians selected by an international committee. Many young instrumentalists from all over Italy have served with it since its foundation. Among his many awards, Muti received the coveted Birgit Nilsson Prize in 2011 at a ceremony at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm. In 2021, he was awarded the Great Gold Medal of Honour for services to the Austrian Republic.
Given Muti's long association with both the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the music of Luigi Cherubini, this concert is sure to offer a memorable interpretation of one of the composer's most significant sacred works, combining historical grandeur with the expressive power of a full orchestra and choir.