Daniel Barenboim, seen conducting in his hometown of Buenos Aires in 2010, will serve a five-year term as La Scala's musical director.Daniel Barenboim, seen conducting in his hometown of Buenos Aires in 2010, will serve a five-year term as La Scala's musical director. Enrique Marcarian/Reuters

Noted conductor Daniel Barenboim is being promoted to musical director of La Scala, the famed Milanese opera house announced Thursday.

The Argentine-Israeli conductor will begin a five-year term in the post effective Dec. 1.

In his new role, the award-winning conductor will be in Milan for at least 15 weeks a year and participate in La Scala concerts, operas and tours.

Barenboim has served in the capacity of principal guest conductor and "Maestro Scaligero" at La Scala for the past five years.

The 68-year-old Barenboim also remains general music director of the German State Opera in Berlin, conductor-for-life of Berlin's Staatskapelle orchestra and head of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.

The Italian cultural institution has been without a formal musical director since the headline-grabbing resignation of Riccardo Muti in 2005, following a dispute between the conductor and La Scala staffers.