Muti to conduct concert for pope

CHICAGO, May 7 (UPI) -- The Chicago Symphony Orchestra says its music director, Riccardo Muti, will lead Rome's Teatro dell'Opera in a concert to honor Pope Benedict XVI.

Friday's musical program of Vivaldi and Verdi will be a tribute to mark the seventh anniversary of the pontiff's election and will be broadcast live over Italian television, the Chicago Tribune reported Monday.

The pope also is confirmed to attend a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony conducted by Daniel Barenboim, the Chicago orchestra's former music director, at Milan's La Scala opera house June 1. The show will coincide with the pope's three-day visit to Milan on behalf of the World Encounter of Families, the Tribune said.

Barenboim, La Scala's longtime principal guest conductor, officially replaced Muti as musical director of the Milan opera house last year. Muti left the post in 2005.