La Maestra Competition in Paris, the second annual edition of which gets underway next week, has issued some interesting statistics on women conductors. Here are a few: There are 62 women working as permanent music directors or chief conductors … » Read

As the 14 semifinalists for the second annual La Maestra Competition prepare for the finals next week, starting March 3 in Paris, news of four conductor appointments arrives, two of them women.   Polish conductor Marta Gardolinsk a, a … » Read

William Kraft, a key figure in the development of Los Angeles’s thriving new-music scene, died on February 12 at the age of 98. The cause was heart failure, reports The Los Angeles Times . Kraft was for 18 years the principal percussionist … » Read

Cynthia Harvey, artistic director of the American Ballet Theater’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School since 2016, will step down at the conclusion of the school year in May 2022. She was well-acquainted with the ABT before directing the … » Read

Valentin Schwarz, whose new production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen is set to debut at Bayreuth this summer after a two-year, pandemic-induced delay, likens the project to a modern Netflix series. “I want to tell a story about … » Read

Kate Rockett, who for six years has been director of artists and repertoire and executive producer for the Pentatone label, is to be the new general director of the Amsterdam-based Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century. Trained as a trombonist at … » Read

In a surprise hire, the Metropolitan Opera has brought veteran and versatile New York Times reporter Daniel J. (Dan) Wakin on board as its senior director of communications, reporting to Met Assistant General Manager for Marketing and … » Read

Nearly eight decades after its composer was murdered in a Nazi concentration camp, the opera Grete Minde received its world premiere on Feb. 13 at the Theater Magdeburg in eastern Germany. Written by Eugen Engel, a self-taught composer who earned … » Read

Colorado’s Central City Opera, which prides itself on being the country’s fifth oldest professional opera company, has appointed a new president and CEO in Pamela Pantos, current development director of the Boston Children’s … » Read

Peter Oundjian, former longtime music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, recently named music director of the Colorado Music Festival , is to be principal conductor of the Colorado Symphony Association. The post, newly created, commits … » Read