It’s potentially great news for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra: they’ve got a new music director, and he’s one of the best.

Riccardo Muti will be the CSO’s 10th music director, with a five-year contract to begin in the 2010-2011 season. From all the evidence, he’s a good fit with the city and the players; his residency last fall — which included opening night and two weeks of subscription concerts as well as a European tour — was a complete success.

Muti had long maintained that he wouldn’t take on another music director job, but says he changed his mind after the 2007 tour. He seems to get along with the (sometimes difficult) musicians of the CSO.

That wasn’t the case at Milan’s La Scala, where Muti was music director from 1986 until April 2005. Muti had major artistic issues with the legendary opera house’s general manager, Carlo Fontana; when Fontana was fired, Muti and the musicians had a bitter and public disagreement.