Katie Mitchell, the director whose feminist stagings during the past three decades have won praise and caused controversy, is retiring from opera. “I’m definitely bringing my work in opera to a close because of the misogyny,” … » Read

When Hongni Wu bounded across the stage as Cherubino in Santa Fe Opera’s Marriage of Figaro last summer , she seemed to compress a teenager’s swirl of conflicted emotions into a single breath. Under Laurent Pelly’s ingenious … » Read

Benita Valente, a lyric soprano whose four-decade career established her as one of America’s greatest recitalists as well as a much- admired performer in opera, chamber music, and with orchestras, died in Philadelphia on Oct. 24. She was … » Read

Polly Kahn, a leading voice in the orchestral field, died on Oct. 14 after a brief illness. She was 77. As vice president for learning and leadership development at the League of American Orchestras between 2000 and 2014, she had a daunting … » Read

The Portland (ME) Symphony Orchestra has a new, full-time executive director in Derek Beckvold. He was previously splitting his time between the Boston Philharmonic, where his most recent job was managing director, and Portland, where he succeeds … » Read

The Mozarteum University Salzburg has added three high-profile artists—conductor Christian Thielemann, violinist Lisa Batiashvili, and pianist Claudio Martínez Mehner—to its teaching faculty as of the beginning of the 2026 … » Read

German conductor Aurel Dawidiuk , 24, is to be the next general music director of the Bochumer Symphoniker in North Rhine-Westphalia. He starts his new job on August 1, 2026, when the current artistic chief, Tung-Chieh Chuang, exits. Dawidiuk is … » Read

NEW YORK (AP) — Misty Copeland hangs up her pointe shoes tonight, putting a final exclamation point on a trailblazing career in which she became an ambassador for diversity in the very white world of ballet—and a crossover star far … » Read

Ukrainian conductor Olha Dondyk , 21, has joined the roster of HarrisonParrott for worldwide general management. She was previously with Interartists in Amsterdam. Dondyk is the assistant conductor of the Orchestre de Paris under Klaus … » Read

Alan Fletcher, longtime CEO of the Aspen Music Festival and School, will exit his position to become president emeritus as of January 1, 2027.  Robert Spano, whom Fletcher takes credit for hiring as music director in 2011 (after David Zinman … » Read