Italian conductor Riccardo Muti was named Monday as the 10th musical director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with a five-year-contract to start in the 2010-2011 season.
The famous maestro from Naples won unanimous approval from the board of trustees of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association as well as overwhelming support from its musicians, the orchestra said in a statement.
Muti, 66, will succeed renowned Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim, who stepped down in 2006.
Before taking over, Muti, who has served as music director for the Philadelphia Orchestra and Milan's iconic La Scala, will oversee auditions and planning for future seasons in January 2009.
Muti, who made his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival in July 1973, reunited with the group in September for a month-long residency including two weeks of concerts.
"I am very happy to be joining the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as their music director," Riccardo Muti said in a statement.
"The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, after an absence of 32 years, re-entered my life last September and the immediate connection with the wonderful musicians of the CSO made a very powerful impression," he said.
Muti was the chief conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra from 1972 to 1982 and served as music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra between 1980 and 1992.
He was music director of La Scala from 1986 to 2005 with projects including the Mozart-Da Ponte trilogy and Wagner's "Ring" cycle.
He also reopened the newly restored La Scala with Antonio Salieri's "Europa riconosciuta," which had been originally commissioned for the theater's inaugural performance in 1778.
His tenure at the prestigious theater in Milan had a stormy end, however, with him stepping down after a very public row with the orchestra and former management over programming.
