A centennial is a time to reflect on past accomplishments, and the San Francisco Opera (SFO)  at one hundred has much to celebrate. But such moments also invite a look to the future to identify new challenges and opportunities that will … » Read

It was Nietzsche who suggested that Bayreuth was a werkstatt , or workshop. And in the past few decades, the festival has been transformed into a laboratory for experimental productions featuring highly advanced forms of  Regietheater, where … » Read

Last year Michael Spyres appeared in New York with another tenor of notable bel canto accomplishment, Lawrence Brownlee, in a dazzling, even over-the-top display of vocal acrobatics by each. The event had the added attraction of revealing … » Read

The unlikely convergence of three of America’s premier symphony orchestras for successive performances in early September at the Dresden Music Festival’s Kulturpalast offered a critic for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette an opportunity to … » Read

The 2022 violin iteration of the annual Cooper Competition (Oberlin, OH) ended on August 19 with a first-prize win for 13-year-old Seohyun Kim of Seoul, South Korea. In addition to $20,000 cash, she earns a two-year package that incorporates the … » Read

Antony and Cleopatra , the new opera by John Adams set to open in San Francisco on Sept. 10 , departs from the composer’s usual attention to more contemporary themes. Nixon in China (1987), The Death of Klinghoffer (1991), and Doctor Atomic … » Read

Michael S. Rosenberg, recent managing director of McCarter Theater Center in Princeton (NJ), longtime managing director of La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, CA, is to be the new president and CEO of New York’s City Center. He succeeds Arlene … » Read

Richard Mantle, OBE, is to retire as general director of Opera North next year after nearly 30 years in the job. He is among the U.K.’s most highly regarded artistic leaders. “He leaves an organisation that is radically different to … » Read

Although Russia likes to consider itself a global superpower, “the list today,” argues Elisabeth Braw in Foreign Policy , “mostly comes down to oil and gas, sports, and classical music.” The invasion of Ukraine and a … » Read

Kate Suthers [pictured] is to be the new concertmaster of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, effective later this month. She succeeds Natsuko Yoshimoto, now concertmaster of the Queensland Symphony after 12 years with Adelaide. Suthers leads the … » Read