Muti proves music is the fruit of love

Riccardo Muti's seminar on Italian opera at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, in Valletta, rolls into its third day today, with rehearsals carrying on into the evening and participants from as far afield as Syria absorbing the one-off opportunity to watch him in action.

The seminar marks the soft opening of the Mediterranean Music Academy, which should be operational in October 2008 and is being endorsed by the world-renowned Italian conductor.

During the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini's rehearsals of Donizetti's Don Pasquale - the concert version of which is being performed at the MCC on Sunday - Mro Muti yesterday sought the perfection he is renowned for, instigating the young musicians and opera singers to "enter into a dialogue with each other".

Bursting into song, now and again, to spell out exactly what he was after, he even allowed for the odd and discreet laugh as his subtle sense of humour occasionally slipped through the seriousness of his work to get his message across.

Among the 15 full-time participants of the one-off week-long seminar - Mro Muti refused to have more - are opera singers and professional and student conductors, who were taking in his every move and hanging onto every note.

The only Maltese attending are sopranos Lydia Caruana and Gillian Zammit and members of the National Orchestra sit along as observers. Two of its clarinetists said they were more concerned with the conductor than the young orchestra he is "bringing up", admiring his perfectionism and interpretation of the music.

"Seeing him up close and personal is an experience; the way he drives the musicians and singers, tightening them together," they observed.

Ms Zammit was impressed at how Mro Muti "would not let anything pass and keeps going over and over everything". His faithfulness to the score was just as impressive.

"His reputation may be that he is difficult to work with, but he is simply a perfectionist and would not accept anything until it is right," she said.

In awe of the indisputable music authority, she admitted she was thinking hard to come up with the right question to ask him at a discussion he had with the participants later that evening.

The principal conductor of the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra, Misak Baghboudarian, who is attending the seminar together with four opera singers from Damascus, said "every word Mro Muti utters is something to mull and think about for a while.

"He knows Italian opera like the insides of his pocket, and through his deep knowledge and experience, manages to help both musicians and singers on anything from pronunciation to musicality and, most importantly, how to understand music.

"We are learning all the ingredients to put a performance together," he said, adding that Syria was still lacking in opportunities to attend operas from overseas.

"More of us wanted to come, but there was no space," he said.

The orchestra had already tasted two hours of work with Mro Muti in Bosra back in 2004, and has come back for more.

"It was a marvellous two hours, and, now, we have another opportunity in Malta - a great country we are discovering," Mr Baghboudarian said.

The Ravenna Festival, founded by Mro Muti's wife Cristina, has strong ties with Damascus, and the idea was to keep the bridge of friendship alive, he said about their presence in Malta.

Finding a few minutes between rehearsals, Mro Muti told The Times that the presence of the Syrians at the seminar offered "the possibility to create a bridge between the two worlds" - Europe and the Middle East - Malta being of importance for its political and geographic position.

He highlighted the "affectionate" hospitality of the Maltese and, glancing around the MCC, the "fantastic" location. "So I believe our work can bear fruit!"

Mro Muti said he was "in possession of a vast experience of artistic human encounters that I do not want to keep to myself, but pass on to youths, primarily as a result of my ethical approach towards music as a spiritual enrichment and not show business".