After an eight-year tenure, Sakurako Fisher will step down as president of the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) in December of 2020. Priscilla B. Geeslin, a member of the orchestra’s board since 1995, will succeed her. During her tenure, Fisher … » Read

When Riccardo Muti, Musical America’s 2010 Musician of the Year, was told that the Salzburg Festival was the 2020 “Festival of the Year,” he shared a favorite memory, as told to Susan Elliott, August 2019. The Salzburg Festival … » Read

Cecilia Bartoli is to become the first woman to run the Monte-Carlo Opera. Her appointment was announced today by Princess Caroline, who serves as chair of the board of directors.   Bartoli will still be “free to continue her work as a … » Read

Conductor Donald Runnicles, music director of the Grand Teton Music Festival, has said he will not continue in that capacity unless three members of the orchestra recently fired by management are reinstated. Last month violist Kristin Linfante, a … » Read

Mezzo-soprano Marianne Cornetti has succeeded Jonathan Eaton as artistic director of the Pittsburgh Festival Opera, which this summer runs July 10-26. Eaton, in the job since 2012, left in October. Cornetti, dubbed “world-renowned” by … » Read

Mariss Jansons, one of the world’s most highly esteemed conductors, died on November 30 at his home in St. Petersburg. Both the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, of which he was chief conductor, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, of … » Read

Plácido Domingo is disputing allegations of sexual harassment against him, saying he has always behaved like a gentleman but that “gallant gestures are viewed differently nowadays.” The 78-year-old Spanish opera legend told the … » Read

The Vienna State Opera is about to get a shock to its system: In early December, Olga Neuwirth’s operatic version of Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando: A Biography premieres. The first opera written by a woman to be staged at the … » Read

Sir Jonathan Miller, writer, director, actor, has died at age 85 after a long battle with Alzheimers. Perhaps best known by the wider public as a member of iconic British stage revue Beyond the Fringe , he directed a large number of operas for … » Read

Italian-Turkish conductor Nil Benditti, 24, is to be principal guest conductor of the Orchestra della Toscana as of 2020-21. She is currently the assistant conductor to Marc Albrecht and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra. Benditti first led … » Read