MILAN--The Arena Opera Festival in Verona has announced a star-studded 2019 season that opens with La Traviata, featuring Anna Netrebko in her festival debut and a new production by 96-year-old Franco Zeffirelli. The ambitious program for the … » Read

Last week, an article in The New York Times bore the title, Thousands of Millionaires Are About to Eat San Francisco Alive . “They want cars," it stated. "They want to open new restaurants. They want to throw bigger parties. And they want … » Read

Patricia K. Beggs, among the most highly regarded officials in the opera business, is to retire as general director of the Cincinnati Opera at the end of its next, centenary season. She has been affiliated with the company for 35 years, initially … » Read

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s (DSO) Classical Roots Celebration and gala dinner on March 9 raised $351,000 to support the performance, commissioning, and recording of works by African-American composers and to feature African-American … » Read

HAMBURG—He's under house arrest in Moscow without a phone or the internet, yet Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov's new opera is set to premiere in Germany on Sunday. A modern take on Verdi's Nabucco , the work at the Hamburg Opera deals … » Read

Chicago’s MacArthur Foundation, home of the “genius grant,” has a new president—John Palfrey. An educator, author, and scholar with a focus on digital technology, Palfrey, 46, will succeed Julia Stasch, in the job since … » Read

It’s always gratifying to see a good turnout for new music, and if the line snaking through security at David Geffen Hall on March 6 was anything to go by, Zhao Lin’s Concerto for Pipa, Cello and Orchestra was a highly anticipated … » Read

Riccardo Muti has, once again, chosen to side with the musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, of which he is music director. Last month, the players held a news conference in the lobby of Orchestra Hall to announce that  they would go … » Read

Twenty-nine vocalists make up the 2019 class of the 62 nd annual Merola Opera Program in San Francisco. Chosen from among 800 applicants from around the world, participants receive training in repertory, languages, diction, acting, and stage … » Read

Even the classical world’s leading lights occasionally stub their toe. In 1966 the Houston Symphony signed 37-year-old André Previn as its new chief conductor, replacing Sir John Barbirolli, 30 years his senior. Previn, who had … » Read