Muti to lead Chicago orchestra tour of Russia, Italy

Italian maestro Riccardo Muti will lead the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on a tour of Russia and Italy in April and will postpone a planned tour of Abu Dhabi, the orchestra said Monday.

It will be Muti's second tour with the orchestra since he took the helm as music director in September 2010 and his first appearance in Russia in more than two decades.

The Russian concerts are presented under a cultural festival called "American Seasons in Russia" that was developed through a bilateral presidential commission and will include a range of arts genres such as dance companies, theatre, jazz, Cajun, gospel and bluegrass performers.

It is the first time a major US orchestra will appear in Russia since 1990.

The tour begins in Moscow with two performances April 18 and 19, followed by an appearance in St. Petersburg on April 21, Rome on April 23, Muti's hometown of Naples on April 24, Brescia, Italy on April 26 and Ravenna, Italy on April 27.

The orchestra had previously announced plans to perform in Abu Dhabi in April but that tour will be "deferred to a future season," it said.