Portraying Captain Ahab in the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Jake Haggie’s Moby-Dick this past winter called for considerable physical stamina. “Given the size of the role, playing Ahab requires a lot of heavy … » Read

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) is welcoming three new musicians: Julia Harguindey, principal bassoon, Zhenwei Shi, principal viola, and Michael Banks, assistant principal bass. This past season Harguindey performed with the PSO as guest … » Read

Karita Mattila, the Finnish operatic soprano who has graced many of the world’s leading stages, has joined Opus 3’s roster for worldwide general management. Known for a dramatic and vocal range that stretches from Mozart to Wagner, … » Read

The announcement on June 25 that the papers of composer Stephen Sondheim, who died in 2021, were coming to the Library of Congress (LOC) marked the culmination of a courtship that began over three decades ago. In 1993, Mark Horowitz, a senior … » Read

The passing of Alfred Brendel on June 17, 2025 has prompted remembrances and encomiums from across the classical music world. One of the most touching—from Sir Simon Rattle—appeared in The Guardian . He recalls first hearing Brendel … » Read

Following his successful debut leading Handel’s Alceste last March, London-based conductor, harpsichordist, and solo bassoonist Peter Whelan has been chosen as the next music director of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale, … » Read

Two orchestras have announced new assistant conductors. Na'Zir McFadden [pictured], 25, has been tapped by the Jacksonville (FL) Symphony to succeed Kevin Fitzgerald, who exits at the end of his three-year tenure. McFadden starts next fall; he … » Read

The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) Jazz Arts division, soon to enter its 41 st year as an MSM degree-granting department, has announced that composer/saxophonist James (Jim) Saltzman, a longtime faculty member, is to be its next dean of Jazz … » Read

German conductor André de Ridder, named music director of the English National Opera in May, is to be the next music director of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Both positions take full effect in 2027, dovetailing with the end of his … » Read

When Samuel Barber was nine years old, he told his parents he wanted to be a composer. A year later, in 1920, he wrote an operetta, and by 1922 had become a church organist. He was “a genius, and a prodigy,” argues the British … » Read