A spate of retirements by Bay Area musicians has prompted them to share reflections about their long careers with the San Francisco Chronicle. French hornist Bruce Roberts retired last month after 35 years. When he arrived from Utah in 1988 to … » Read

The Shed, envisioned by its donors as a $495 million font of avant-garde creativity amid the glass and steel of the Hudson Yards remake in lower Manhattan, has hired the CEO of the Boston Ballet, Meredith Hodges, for the same role. The move is … » Read

Italian conductor Mino Marani [pictured], 37, is to be the new Heidelberg General Music Director (GMD) as of 2024-25, pending final approval by the city council. He is the current Kapellmeister of Staatstheater Braunschweig. Recent Heidelberg … » Read

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP)—A document handwritten by singer Aretha Franklin and found in her couch after her 2018 death is a valid Michigan will, a jury said Tuesday, a critical turn in a dispute that has turned her sons against each other. … » Read

On July 6 the South Korean soprano Lee Sang-eun was found dead in a woman’s restroom at Gimcheon Culture and Art Center. Her body was discovered just minutes before she was to perform in Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Gimcheon … » Read

Two key chamber ensembles have updated their personnel. The American Brass Quintet (ABQ, est. 1960) has brought on a new trumpet in Brandon Ridenour, and its first ever woman member, trombonist Hillary Simms. Ridenour succeeds Louis Hanzlik, who … » Read

Christopher Heil i s to be the new chorus director of the Bayerische Staatsoper, one of Germany’s biggest opera choruses, with some 100 singers from 23 countries. He succeeds Stellario Fagone who made an abrupt exit last March, as yet … » Read

Ballet Hispánico, which self-defines as the largest Latinx/Latine/Hispanic cultural organization in the U.S., comprised of a dance company, school, and community-partnership hub, has created the new position of chief managing director and … » Read

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Peter Nero, a Grammy-winning pianist who interpreted pop songs through classical and jazz forms and served as the Philly Pops’ conductor for more than three decades, has died. He was 89. Nero died Thursday at Home … » Read

Gustavo Dudamel’s decision to leave the Los Angeles Philharmonic after 17 years to join the New York Philharmonic is widely considered a loss by Angelenos eager to assert their cultural superiority over their East Coast rival. But what if, … » Read