German baritone Benjamin Appl is a protégé of another baritone, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, having met the esteemed singer in masterclasses at a Schubertiade in Austria three years before his death in 2012. Appl went on to study … » Read

The National Youth Orchestra (UK) has appointed Alpesh Chauhan OBE as principal conductor and musical adviser. His remit is to work with Chief Executive and Artistic Director Sarah Alexander in shaping artistic direction and promoting NYO's … » Read

Opera America, the national trade organization for companies specializing in the art form, has named a successor to Marc Scorca, who announced his intention to step down as CEO one year ago. He is Michael J. Bobbitt, executive director of Mass … » Read

In February 2025, the Eastern Music Festival (EMF) announced the cancellation of the annual five-week event held on the Guilford College campus in Greensboro, N.C. At issue were new demands placed on EMF by the musicians’ union (AMF), which … » Read

Pianist Wu Han took a fall last week and broke her wrist while on tour in Houston with cellist David Finckel, her husband. Fortunately, the break does not require surgery but it does require rest; on the advice of her physicians, she will be … » Read

Víkingur Ólafsson served notice, right off the bat, that he would be offering an idiosyncratic take on the Emperor Concerto. The Icelandic pianist, performing with the Philharmonia Orchestra at its October 9 Carnegie Hall concert, … » Read

Pianist/conductor Rei Hotoda is to be the next music director of the Las Vegas Philharmonic, succeeding Donato Cabrera, in the job for ten years. Hotoda, music director of the Fresno (CA) Philharmonic since 2017, takes over in Nevada next July. … » Read

In the fall of 2026, Michael Christie will succeed Joseph Young as artistic director of ensembles at the Peabody Conservatory;  he will lead the programming and direction of the conservatory’s instrumental and vocal tracks. Currently … » 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

The Trump takeover of Kennedy Center has proven to be a debacle, as meticulously calculated by The Washington Post , owned, it may be recalled, by Trump ally Jeff Bezos. “Nearly nine months after Trump became chair of the center and more … » Read