Italian maestro to perform inside lockup

Associated Press

CHICAGO — Italian-born maestro Riccardo Muti is once again taking his act to a captive audience — this time to a lockup for girls and young women outside Chicago.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s music director will accompany world-class opera singers on the piano Sunday at the Illinois Youth Center Warrenville.

The 72-year-old Muti has sought for years to introduce classical music to atypical audiences. And he’s spoken about how the likes of Beethoven or Bach can surprise and inspire inmates in particular.

The acclaimed conductor attended an April concert at Cook County’s Juvenile Temporary Detention Center.

And years ago inside an Italian prison, he performed Robert Schumann’s “Warum? (VAH’-room),” which means “why” in German. He’s explained it was his way of asking inmates what had brought them to such misfortune.