NEW YORK (AP) — Oksana Lyniv, Speranza Scappucci, Marin Alsop, and Xian Zhang filled their lockers in the guest conductors’ dressing room off the Metropolitan Opera’s orchestra pit. Just four women had led the orchestra from … » Read

The traditional stereotype of the conductor--an unapproachable, god-like genius unencumbered by everyday concerns--is undergoing a generational transformation. So argues Andrew Mellor when considering the recently concluded Malko Competition , … » Read

There can be no question that opera in the U.K. is in crisis, what with the government’s misguided slashing of the funds that arts groups have long depended upon. (It’s not doing all that well in the U.S. either, but fewer … » Read

By any measure, Marin Alsop has had an extraordinary career. The first woman to lead a major American orchestra--she spent 14 somewhat fractious years at the helm of the Baltimore Symphony --she has also held prestigious appointments in Europe … » Read

The sudden announcement by Gustavo Dudamel in late May of 2023 that he was stepping down as music director of the Paris Opera shocked the classical music world. He was leaving only two years into a contract extending to 2027. The press release … » Read

Tyshawn Sorey has won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Music with Adagio (for Wadada Leo Smith) , a concerto of sorts for saxophone and concerto, commissioned by the Lucerne Festival and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. The former presented the world … » Read

CHICAGO—The first and last time the Chicago Symphony played Samuel Barber’s Toccata Festiva —commissioned to break in a new organ at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music, in 1960—was in 2003, more than 20 years ago. With … » Read

When Simon Rattle became music director of the London Symphony Orchestra in 2017 after 16 years leading the Berlin Philharmonic, the London press welcomed back the U.K.’s foremost conductor with open arms. Yet his tenure at the LSO lasted … » Read

A letter signed by 175 high profile figures in the U.K. arts and entertainment industries argues that the deep cuts to the Welsh National Opera (WNO) by the Art Councils of both England and Wales threaten the “dismantling” of … » Read

James Blachly [pictured] will remain as music director of the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra through 2026. He arrived in 2016 and is credited with expanding the JSO’s artistic horizons and its audience reach. “James is a very exciting … » Read