As per hard-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s directive, foreign heads of Italian opera houses must retire by age 70 . That means Frenchman Dominque Meyer, 68, must soon exit as Intendant at La Scala, despite the fact that the musicians … » Read

BOSTON—Olivier Messiaen’s massive Turangalila -Symphonie , which on April 11 received its first Boston Symphony Orchestra performance in 24 years, has a special place in the BSO’s history. Commissioned in 1946 by Serge … » Read

By the time he was 14, Anthony Freud had become obsessed with opera and knew he wanted to run an opera company one day. Now, after more than three decades doing just that, he is set to retire after a 13-year stint as general director of Lyric … » Read

Among departures by star faculty, student accusations of inappropriate behavior and subsequent lawsuits, votes of no confidence, and other such pleasantries, the Cleveland Institute has hardly had an easy time of it in the years since the … » Read

In 1991 Liverpool native Paul McCartney composed his Liverpool Oratorio in response to a request from the Royal Liverpool Orchestra, then celebrating its 150 th anniversary. Its premiere in the city’s cathedral that year featured soprano … » Read

Britain’s annual Three Choirs Festival, which lays claim to being the oldest classical music festival in the world, has announced that Alexis Paterson, its CEO of the last eight years, will exit at the end of this year’s event, July … » Read

SANTA MONICA, CA – Imagine getting the idea for an opera from the stamp collection that you had as a kid. So said composer Huang Ruo, for whom the mythological Chinese characters on some of his stamps eventually materialized into Book of … » Read

Violinist Katie Stillman is to be the new leader of Leeds-based Opera North’s orchestra, effective in August. She succeeds David Greed, who exits after 40 years with the company. Stillman is currently first violinist of the Villiers Quartet … » Read

The meteoric ascension of Klaus Mäkelä—he will be just 32 when he becomes music director of both the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 2027—has left more than a few observers thinking he has … » Read

Few Britons better understand the world of opera in the U.K. than Sir Antonio Pappano, musical director of the Royal Opera House for more than two decades and since September chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. “Here … » Read