Article updated: 11/14/2012 11:17 AM

CSO conductor warns of recession’s impact

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Riccardo Muti, the master conductor, says he is worried that the stubborn financial crisis in much of the world risks impoverishing not just public coffers, but also the arts.

Associated Press

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Riccardo Muti, the master conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, is sounding an ominous note, and it isn't rising from the orchestra pit. The former longtime maestro at Milan's La Scala opera house is worried that the stubborn financial crisis in much of the world risks impoverishing not just public coffers but also the arts, whose budgets, often lean even in good economic times, are among the biggest casualties in many countries.