For only the second time in its history, the Pittsburgh Symphony has hired a principal pops conductor. He is onetime Basie-band trumpeter Byron Stripling, 58. He succeeds Marvin Hamlisch, who died in 2012. In addition to working with Count Basie, … » Read

Ben Cadwallader, executive director of the Vermont Symphony since 2015, is to take the executive helm of The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra starting in March. He succeeds Scott Harrison, who left after four years in the job. Cadwallader's hiring … » Read

The master of music of Westminster Cathedral has resigned, as of December 31, 2019. Martin Baker, in the job nearly 20 years, was not in favor of upcoming changes at the Cathedral Choir School, which is moving from a seven- to a five-day-a- week … » Read

Union musicians counting on their pensions to keep them solvent in their years of retirement are in for some bad news. On Tuesday, the American Federation of Musicians Employers’ Pension Fund—which covers about 50,000 free-lancers, … » Read

A partnership between the San Francisco Ballet School (SFB School) and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) will include movement classes for Conservatory students, music classes for SFB School students, and choreographer-composer … » Read

Cate Haste’s new biography, Passionate Spirit: The Life of Alma Mahler , profiles a woman whose tempestuous relationships with the avatars of early modernism made her a cultural force in her own right. Born in Vienna in 1879, the daughter … » Read

PARIS (AFP) -- Paris Opera has lost more than 12 million euros ($13.3 million) in a month-long strike by ballet dancers fighting to cling onto pension rights that date back to the "Sun King" Louis XIV. The opera -- one of the oldest and most … » Read

Classical music statisticians will be happy to note that, based on events listed on the London-based Bachtrack for the last year, the annual stats for "busiest," translated by Bachtrack as "top," are in. Among other not-so-trivial news is that, … » Read

Emanuel Borok, concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra from 1985 to 2010, died on January 5 after battling lung cancer. He was 75. Borok came to the DSO from the Boston Symphony after 11 years as associate concertmaster and concertmaster … » Read

Peter Mattei, Musical America’s  2020 Vocalist of the Year , is winning rave reviews for his current portrayal of Wozzeck in Alban Berg’s modernist masterpiece at the Metropolitan Opera. Heard more often in roles such as Don … » Read