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Q. How did they like it?

A. They were very impressed, and they made very nice and intelligent comments about what they heard. They said that they didn’t expect that they would like this music so much, because this music was so new for them.

And again, they were so wonderful and full of discipline and very attentive. So I think today we have to use this great weapon that we have — that is music — to put people more and more together. In fact, that is my experience, through all the concerts that I do for friendship, going around the world, in cities like Sarajevo or Cairo.

By Richard Scheinin

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Last year, when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed in San Francisco for the first time since 1987, Riccardo Muti was on the podium. This eminent conductor is practically a brand name, synonymous with La Scala (where he was music director from 1986 to 2005), the Philadelphia Orchestra (1980-92) and other great orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, with which he enjoys an association of 40 years.

But when I spoke by phone with Muti — now in his second season as Chicago’s music director — he became most engaged when discussing prisons. Yes, prisons.

From the Indianapolis Star

Eliminating college education for prison inmates is an easy enough move to make, politically speaking. But does it make sense for the taxpaying public?

Not when history shows that convicts who take classes are substantially less likely to wind up back behind bars once they’re released.

The benefits appear to apply to study of the liberal arts as well as vocational training. But Gov. Mitch Daniels wants the emphasis put on the latter area, with the rationale that it will lead to more jobs — certainly a key factor in staying free.