Director Chiara Muti, daughter of renowned conductor Riccardo Muti, reflects on a childhood steeped in the arts and her subsequent path to a career in opera and theater. [[1]] The interview delves into formative experiences – from witnessing Giorgio Strehler’s rehearsals of *the Marriage of Figaro* to her collaborative work with her father on several productions, including upcoming performances of *Macbeth* in Italy and Japan. [[3]] Muti discusses her artistic progress, her directing philosophy, and the lessons learned from her celebrated father.
Chiara Muti recalls a formative childhood experience: at age eight, she was captivated watching rehearsals for Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, directed by Giorgio Strehler, with her father, Riccardo Muti, conducting the La Scala orchestra. “It was love at first sight,” she told La Stampa years later, “that led me from a passion for music to a passion for theater as a whole, and eventually to enrolling at the Piccolo school.” For Chiara, Strehler, a former violinist himself, “was a frustrated conductor.” She remembers him as a dynamic personality: “Fantastic, even if his sharpness wouldn’t pass for politeness today. He got his hands dirty with the actors, acted alongside us to shape us, dressed in black like a shadow that suddenly entered us. He worked on the characters, on the relationships between them, on glances and what was left unsaid. After all, the director’s job is to bring out what is hidden between the lines, just as a musician searches for what lies between the notes.”
Her Father, Riccardo, and Her Siblings
From actress to director, even directing her own father. “He called me for Sancta Susanna, and I didn’t think I was ready, but he understood that my work could lead to directing opera,” she further shared with La Stampa.
She describes her father as someone who “always let me be free. My siblings studied Architecture and Law. He indirectly made me fall in love with the theater. After Sancta Susanna, we worked on Così fan tutte, Don Giovanni, and Manon Lescaut. I’m thrilled to be doing it again with Macbeth. We will also be reviving Don Giovanni in Japan.”
Chiara Muti describes her father as “genuine and humble. He may seem aloof, but he’s just demanding. Even today, he arrives incredibly prepared. If he has to redo Macbeth for the umpteenth time, he starts from scratch, delving deeper. That’s his lesson.”
Where She Lives
Muti has chosen to make her home in France. “I spend a lot of time in the countryside at the foot of the Pyrenees. My husband, a pianist, plays the piano in his studio, I read and listen to operas in the library, and our daughter shouts from downstairs: ‘I have to do my homework!’ We’ve even given names to the oaks in the woods; my favorite is called Marie Antoinette. My daughter attends high school there, studies, even though she often has her smartphone in her hand. A real demonic instrument—not for nothing did I use so many screens in my Guillaume Tell at La Scala. The battle that all parents should fight with their children is less smartphone and more books.”
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