On Aug. 18 the San Francisco International Piano Festival launches a two-week series of solo recitals at a variety of venues in the area. Pianist Jeffrey LaDeur conceived the idea of a festival in 2017. “It seemed strange to me that there … » Read

NEW YORK (AP)—Renata Scotto, a soprano of uncommon intensity who became a successful director after her singing career, died Wednesday in her hometown of Savona, Italy. She was 89. Scotto’s New York-based manager, Robert Lombardo, … » Read

SALZBURG, Austria—The opera world is split in two: European regietheater productions reinvent works in ways composers never imagined, while traditional stagings favored in the U.S. and parts of Italy are condemned by some cognoscenti as … » Read

The financial realities of post-pandemic life have caught up with Opera Philadelphia. Straitened circumstances are necessitating a 20 percent budget cut, from $13.3mn to $11mn (from a high of $18mn in 2018); the elimination of six staff … » Read

Rising Italian conductor Daniele Rustioni, 40, is to exit his recent post of music director of the Ulster Orchestra at the end of the coming season, opening September 22 with works by Dukas, Prokofiev, Borodin and Ravel. Rustioni, who has guest … » Read

Yannick Nézet-Séguin is undeniably one of the most fashionable maestros on the international stage. So, his attire at an open rehearsal by The Philadelphia Orchestra at Saratoga Springs, NY, on Aug 12 caught everyone’s … » Read

The two-week Bellingham Festival of Music, named for the city in the northwest corner of Washington, has capped its search for a successor to Michael Palmera, cofounder of the event in 1993 and music director—now laureate—ever since. … » Read

Pointing to “economic headwinds,” the Metropolitan Opera Guild has declared it will be “scaling back,” as in laying off some 20 employees and ceasing publication of Opera News magazine as a standalone entity.  … » Read

Shauna Quill, current executive director of the New York Youth Symphony (NYSS), is to succeed Scott Reed as president and CEO of the Music Academy, formerly known as the Music Academy of the West. Reed, in the job 12 years, and with the … » Read

British countertenor Andrew Watts [pictured] is to succeed Ivan van Kalmthout as general director of the International Vocal Competition (IVC) 's-Hertogenbosch, effective September 1. Kalmthout has been in the job since 2018. Celebrating its 70 … » Read