World-famous Italian conductor Claudio Abbado has come out on the side of conservationists by requesting that the city of Milan should plant 90,000 trees on its territory in lieu of his fee for returning to direct the orchestra of La Scala, Milan after a long absence. Abbado, born in Milan in 1933, made his debut at La Scala in 1960 and was musical director there from 1968 to 1986. Subsequently, he founded the European Union Youth Orchestra and was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic between 1989 and 2002. Latterly, he has suffered from health problems which, however, have not prevented him from continuing his work as music director of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and the Mozart Orchestra of Bologna.
Abbado has always shown an interest in ecological issues and his remark: At heart, I think Im just a gardener, which appeared in an interview in February 2006 in the BBC Music Magazine, is often quoted by his fans.
