When a conference panel is stacked with likeminded people who largely agree on everything, things can quickly turn dull or self-promotional. At the May 15-19 Classical:NEXT conference in Rotterdam, the best of the discussions avoided this trap. … » Read

Thierry Fischer has opted not to renew his contract as music director of the Utah Symphony when it expires in August 2022. At that point, he will have been in the job 13 years, after having turned the orchestra around artistically and raised its … » Read

When Disney Hall, the Frank Gehry-designed home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, opened 16 years ago, it signaled a new level of ambition for the orchestra and held out the potential for transforming the surrounding Grand Avenue neighborhood. As … » Read

TEL AVIV, Israel — When Zubin Mehta joined the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in 1969, it would be 20 years before Lahav Shani was even born. Now, at the age of 30, the Israeli wunderkind is  poised to succeed his mentor at the helm of … » Read

The New York Philharmonic is winding up its current season with a series of concerts provocatively titled “Music of Conscience.” Featuring works by composers responding to political tyranny (Beethoven and Shostakovich on this first … » Read

Leonora Thomson, managing director of the Welsh National Opera, is to step down on July 1, as Aidan Lang takes over as general director . Lang arrives after four years in the top job at the Seattle Opera. “In February of last year, … » Read

Carnegie Hall President and tech billionaire Robert F. Smith is the world’s wealthiest African American and also one the world’s most generous philanthropists. According to Inside Philanthropy , the 2016 tax records for his Fund II … » Read

The shrinking audience for opera has become a familiar trope that often occasions a combination of hand wringing and ill-conceived efforts to lure younger attendees. “The traditional subscription audience is declining as people age out of … » Read

When Aretha Franklin died in August 2018, her family reported that she did not have a will. Discoveries made in early May by Sabrina Owens, Franklin’s niece and her estate’s personal representative, suggest that the Queen of Soul may … » Read

The two mainstays of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem have simultaneously announced their plans to retire: Artistic Director and Conductor Greg Funfgeld [pictured] will step down in June 2021, after 38 years, and Executive Director Bridget George will … » Read