After 27 years, Amy Kaiser has retired as director of the St. Louis Symphony Chorus. She had been a free-lance choral conductor in New York for more than a decade when Leonard Slatkin hired her in 1995. Since then, she has worked with his three … » Read

Soprano Angel Blue is the 2022 Richard Tucker Award winner, a decision made by conferral among the Foundation members rather than audition. Given to an artist “on the verge of” a major international career, the award carries a $50,000 … » Read

Susan Jaffe, for 22 years a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theater, has been named to succeed Kevin McKenzie as the company’s artistic director. Jaffe, most recently in the same post with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, starts at … » Read

There appears to be no stopping the appetite for acquisition, nor the funds to facilitate it, by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Its latest purchase, announced today, is Pentatone music, the Netherlands-based record label and home to the … » Read

Does the Metropolitan Opera’s decision to fire Anna Netrebko violate New York State law? Noted attorney Alan Dershowitz seems to think it does. “The law of New York and many other jurisdictions prohibits employment discrimination … » Read

SAN FRANCISCO--Melody was in full bloom at Davies Symphony Hall on May 5, in the first of three San Francisco Symphony concerts led by guest conductor Xian Zhang. Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9 (From the New World) alone would have been … » Read

Plato Karayanis, whose 23 years as general director of the Dallas Opera proved transformative, died on April 29 at his Santa Fe home. He was 93. Born in Pittsburgh to Greek immigrants, Karayanis studied voice at Carnegie Mellon University and … » Read

Any new offering from composer Osvaldo Golijov is welcome after his years of silence, during which he worked on any number of projects although reportedly not to his satisfaction. Small wonder, given the success of the brilliant musical fusions … » Read

On the occasion of Michael Tilson Thomas’s final concert as artistic director, the New World Symphony (NWS) this evening announced a $30 million endowment gift from the Arison Arts Foundation in honor of MTT. Going forward, the New World … » Read

LONDON--The Britten Sinfonia’s May 4 concert at London’s Barbican Centre rather cleverly managed to celebrate the 150 th anniversary of the birth of British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams without recourse to a single note of his … » Read