Two key Minnesota Orchestra positions have been filled, their prior vacancies due in both cases to retirements. Felicity James [pictured] is the new associate concertmaster, succeeding Roger Frisch, a 35-year veteran. And Erich Rieppel is the new … » Read

The Würth Philharmonic Orchestra, based in Baden-Württemberg and launched last year by German billionaire Reinhold Würth, has named Milan-born Claudio Vandelli [pictured] as chief conductor effective in January, 2020. Based in the … » Read

A recent study bolsters the argument that music training enhances the brain’s functioning. Research published in the journal Psychology of Music measured cognitive skills among 72 college undergraduates grouped according to the extent of … » Read

The Metropolitan Opera and WQXR, New York’s classical music station, have announced ARIA CODE, a collaboration designed to decode some of opera’s most well-known arias. The 10-episode podcast series debuts on Dec. 4 with a program … » Read

BOSTON—The head of MIT’s Media Lab (and Musical America’s 2016 Composer of the Year) has a new opera—a labor of love, not a response to a commission. After a gestation period of some 20 years, Tod Machover’s … » Read

At a press conference in Saint Petersburg last week, Bolshoi Director General Vladimir Urin said that the company would be collaborating with the Metropolitan Opera on three new productions in 2021-2022: Aida, Salome , and Lohengrin . This marks … » Read

Seasoned soloist and chamber musician Grace Park has won the top prize in the 2018 Naumburg Violin Competition, one of the five performers in the finals concerts on November 16 at the 92 nd Street Y Kaufmann Concert hall. She takes home $25,000 … » Read

Joseph Conyers, assistant principal bassist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, wants to “use music to create better people." If they also happen to excel as musicians, that’s all to the better. In 2007 Conyers founded Project 440, a … » Read

G. Schirmer has acquired the worldwide rights to the works of Florence Price. Born to a middle-class family in Little Rock, AR in 1880, Price was the first African-American woman to have a symphony performed by a major American orchestra when the … » Read

On Nov. 13 the Solera Quartet completed an unusual residency with a performance on a floating correctional facility just off Hunts Point in the Bronx, NY. For the previous week, the four musicians had helped 20 inmates at the 870-bed Vernon C. … » Read