Italy's most famous opera conductor, Riccardo Muti, said Wednesday he won't take any more steady jobs in Italy following his split with the Rome opera house last month.
Speaking to Austrian radio in Vienna, where he gave a triumphant performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Muti made it clear he would never again accept any long-term posts in his native land.
Muti, who quit as primary conductor in Rome after six years, said "my commitment is now (solely) to the CSO and naturally with the Cherubini (youth orchestra), the young people who need support".
Muti founded the Cherubini, based in the northern cities of Piacenza and Ravenna, in 2004. The Rome opera house sacked its orchestra and choir in the wake of Muti's resignation, saying it would outsource musicians or periodically rehire the old staff on temporary contracts.
The unprecedented move came after a long series of union woes which led to the cancellation of several high-profile performances.
Among other cases, a wildcat strike forced the opera house to stage La Boheme at Caracalla's Baths in July with only the accompaniment of the piano.
In another instance cited after Muti quit, the lead violin reportedly refused to follow the company on a highly anticipated tour of Japan. When he withdrew as primary conductor on September 22, the flamboyant Naples-born conductor citing ongoing funding, management and labour strife at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.
In a letter to the director of the fractious opera house, Carlo Fuortes, Muti withdrew from planned productions of Verdi's Aida opening in November and Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, for spring 2015.
"There are no conditions (there) to ensure the serenity necessary to my leading successful productions," Muti said.
"Unfortunately, despite all my efforts to contribute to your cause," Muti wrote, problems of state and city funding, management authority and labour peace "have emerged (again) in just the last few days".
The world-famous conductor said he had decided to quit the Rome Opera "with the greatest regret, after long and troubled reflection" but was happy to have more time to devote to the CSO.
Earlier this year Muti extended his tenure as music director of the CSO for five years, through 2020.
"In 2020 I won't be 80 yet," Muti said, quipping that his family was known for youthful vitality continuing into old age.
"My great-grandfather remarried at 76," said the great conductor, who was music director of La Scala in Milan for 19 years.
Both Fuortes and Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino, whose administration provides much of the funding for the Italian capital's opera house, have repeatedly urged Muti to reconsider his resignation.
Forced to reschedule in haste, the opera house announced on October 14 it would open its 2014/2015 season with Rusalka by Antonin Dvorak instead of Muti's planned Aida.
Rusalka will be conducted by Eivind Gullberg Jensen in a new setting devised by Denis Krief and featuring Krassimira Stoyanova, Maksim Aksenov, Larissa Diadkova and Steven Humes among the protagonists.
The premiere will be on November 27, with repeat performances on November 29 and December 2, 4, 7, 10, 12 and 14 as per the original calendar.
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