Given the shortage of guitar concertos (or at least, ones that orchestras are prepared to program), classical guitarists need to have an entrepreneurial spirit to build a successful career. Rupert Boyd is a good example. The Australian-born, New … » Read

On March 25, which in Russia happened to be the Day of Cultural Professionals, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a videoconference with several cultural leaders whom he knows personally. This was the meeting in which he commented on how … » Read

Japanese violinist Naoka Aoki has been appointed as one of the three concertmasters of the Munich Philharmonic , the first woman to hold the job, which she shares with Lorenz Nasturica-Herschcowici and Julian Shevlin. The 30-year Tokyo native … » Read

The San Francisco Ballet has selected Danielle St. Germain-Gordon, interim executive director for the last nine months, to assume the position on a permanent basis. She succeeds Kelly Tweeddale, in the role for less than two years. St. … » Read

Simon Rattle was getting ready to leave Europe for the first time since the start of the pandemic and head to California with the London Symphony Orchestra for a residency with students at Santa Barbara’s Music Academy of the West. … » Read

March was to be a busy month for the 29-year-old conductor Vitali Alekseenok, who was scheduled to lead concerts in Lviv, Dnipro, and Kyiv, and open the Kharkiv Music Festival as its new artistic director. But four days after the Russian invasion … » Read

Russian conductor Tugan Sokhiev, who  recently quit as musical director and principal conductor of the Bolshoi Theater in protest against the invasion of Ukraine, will not be coming Stateside on March 31 to conduct the New York Philharmonic, … » Read

Olga Smirnova, a principal soloist at the Bolshoi Ballet since 2016, is leaving the storied Russian company to join the Dutch National Ballet. Although she said in a news release that she had been contemplating a move for some time, she was … » Read

The Norwegian singer Lise Davidsen’s rise in the musical universe is best drawn as a straight vertical line. With only 15 years’ experience as an opera singer, the 35-year-old soprano, says Peter Gelb, the Metropolitan Opera’s … » Read

In an internal evaluation of Juilliard President Damian Woetzel, 43 out of 49 faculty and staff members responded with negative comments. Key criticisms were that Woetzel, a former dancer appointed president in 2017, focused on performance … » Read