Riccardo Muti, speaking to VAN, identifies a major problem in modern musical life: "Today, a music director is a principal guest conductor, he just conducts more concerts, that’s all. But a real music director has to take care, and not only musically. The musicians must feel free to knock on your door and say, 'Maestro, we have this problem.' It’s not only musical. That is a music director. If not, what is your profession? Just to say, 'It’s sharp. It’s flat. It’s sharp. Obbligato'? That’s nothing. Today, it’s changing. The world is changing. And now conductors have two orchestras and a theater? Three theaters and an orchestra? That is… Well, let’s not say that it’s immoral. But certainly, it is not artistic. In this way, I am of the old school."
