Violinist Yi-Wen Jiang is suing Montclair (NJ) State University and its resident Shanghai Quartet for firing him from the ensemble for a social media post he wrote calling Chinese people pigs ( pig emoji). At the time, it was reported that he had … » Read

Arts organizations that choose to go dormant for the 2020-21 season may be missing a vital chance to stay “dialed in” and serve their communities, according to Matthew VanBesien, president of the University Musical Society in Ann … » Read

Black symphony and opera conductors were not always as rare a commodity as they are today. During the middle decades of the previous century, a generation of African American maestros regularly manned the podiums of major orchestras such as … » Read

Ann Hobson Pilot became the first black female principal player in a major orchestra back in 1969 when the Boston Symphony hired her as its principal harp. Retired since 2009, she is now 76 and living in Florida, having survived all manner of … » Read

The Ohio-based Carpe Diem String Quartet has a new cellist in Ariana Nelson, a member of the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra and on the faculty of Texas Southern University. Nelson, who studied at Juilliard with Darrett Adkins, joins the … » Read

In June of 2019, Jesse Rosen  announced that he would be moving on from his post as president and CEO of the League of American Orchestras in September 2020. He has been with the League for 22 years, the last 12 of them in the top position. … » Read

It appears that the Paris Opera has gotten its way. Canadian Opera Company General Director Alexander Neef [pictured] will take the French company’s helm as early as next month, succeeding Stéphane Lissner. Originally, Neef was to … » Read

The Philadelphia Orchestra, which, like all of its North American colleagues hasn’t fully assembled on stage since March, is seeing seven of its members retire prior to the start of the new (and still mostly virtual) season. Its first Black … » Read

Since the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s earliest years, women have played significant roles in the company’s growth and artistic excellence. Six of these women stand out in particular.   Carol Fox was only 28 years old in 1954, when … » Read

The first thing a listener is apt to notice about the music of composer Katherine Balch is its combination of familiarity and other-worldliness. The harmonies and rhythms that underlie much of her work are fundamentally akin to those of Schubert, … » Read