The New York Philharmonic has unveiled plans for a major renovation, maintaining the outer skeleton of what is currently known as David Geffen Hall, but changing just about everything else, from bathrooms to bass frequencies. The projected cost … » Read

Elijah Moshinsky’s grand staging from 1995 of The Queen of Spades , which was conducted by Valery Gergiev in his first Russian assignment at the Metropolitan Opera, exemplified the company’s commitment to Russian opera following the … » Read

Conductor Donald Runnicles, music director of the Grand Teton Music Festival, has said he will not continue in that capacity unless three members of the orchestra recently fired by management are reinstated. Last month violist Kristin Linfante, a … » Read

Renovating a building like the Hungarian State Opera House (HSO), which dates from 1884, has a way of costing more and taking longer than originally anticipated. The Neo-Renaissance structure closed 18 months ago, and was scheduled to reopen in … » Read

Mezzo-soprano Marianne Cornetti has succeeded Jonathan Eaton as artistic director of the Pittsburgh Festival Opera, which this summer runs July 10-26. Eaton, in the job since 2012, left in October. Cornetti, dubbed “world-renowned” by … » Read

Mariss Jansons, one of the world’s most highly esteemed conductors, died on November 30 at his home in St. Petersburg. Both the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, of which he was chief conductor, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, of … » Read

The visceral intensity of a competition performance leaves its mark on the audience as well as the contestants. You could sense the collective adrenaline skyrocketing during the final round of the Concours musical international de Montréal … » Read

Plácido Domingo is disputing allegations of sexual harassment against him, saying he has always behaved like a gentleman but that “gallant gestures are viewed differently nowadays.” The 78-year-old Spanish opera legend told the … » Read

As Music Director of both the Metropolitan Opera and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin may be a regular visitor—“an adopted New Yorker,” as he himself put it in brief remarks from the … » Read

Sir Jonathan Miller, writer, director, actor, has died at age 85 after a long battle with Alzheimers. Perhaps best known by the wider public as a member of iconic British stage revue Beyond the Fringe , he directed a large number of operas for … » Read