CSO director Muti faints during rehearsal

Other conductors will lead the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's upcoming performances after music director Riccardo Muti fainted during rehearsal and was hospitalized.

Orchestra spokeswoman Maggie Berndt says Muti fainted Thursday and is under a physician's care.

Deborah Rutter, president of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, says the 69-year-old Muti was stable and talking late Thursday afternoon. She says he suffered a laceration near his jaw when he fell.

Performances on Thursday night and Friday afternoon will now be led by conductor and pianist Mitsuko Uchida and conductor Leonard Slatkin.

In October, Muti was hospitalized in Italy for what was later called extreme physical exhaustion.

He withdrew from his fall CSO residency, but was cleared for the winter concert series in Chicago which opens Thursday evening and runs through Feb. 19.