MUSIC

Philadelphia Orchestra music director Riccardo Muti has been named an honorary ambassador by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the orchestra reported. The formal announcement was made Saturday in Salzburg, Austria, by U.N. High Commissioner Jean-Pierre Hocke. Muti, who is also music director of Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy, immediately announced benefit concerts to be held in 1990 in Milan and in 1991 at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. “If we look at history, artists of all kinds--painters, sculptors, writers and musicians--have always been amongst the most influential and the most deeply involved members of society,” Muti said.