The Annapolis Symphony has tapped a former neurosurgeon and university president to be its next CEO, as of April 1. Ralph Kuncl comes to the position with an impressive track record as a fund raiser, most notably as president, now emeritus, of the University of Redlands in California, where he is credited with overseeing a successful $200 million campaign and securing the University’s largest-ever gift of $35 million. With choral singing as one of his avocations, he took a special interest in elevating the quality of the Redlands Conservatory and the affiliated Redland Symphony. An endowed scholarship to the Conservatory was created in his honor.

The Pacific Chorale has named Rhett M. Del Campo as president and CEO as of May 1. He succeeds Andrew Brown, who left last fall after five years to take the same position with the Pasadena Symphony. A onetime professional percussionist, Del Campo comes to the Chorale from chief-executive positions at iSing Silicon Valley, a choral education program for K-12 girls, and Seraphic Fire, a professional vocal ensemble based in Miami, to which he helped bring a national profile.

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, who took office on Jan. 1, has tapped Valerie Gay to be the city’s new arts and culture czar. City arts leaders greeted the appointment as well as the mayor’s apparent intention to elevate the incumbent to a cabinet-level position with great enthusiasm. “We believe that the arts and culture sector now has several champions embedded within the administration,” said Patricia Wilson Aden, president and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. “No one could better bring all of the qualities that we are looking for in our next arts and culture leader.”

Barry Hughson, executive director of the National Ballet of Canada for the last decade, is to take the same post at the American Ballet Theatre as of July 1. ABT, annual budget of $45 million, is said to be the third largest ballet company in North America; NBC is smaller, though on the upswing. Hughson’s experience at the executive helm also includes four years running the Boston Ballet preceded by two at the Atlanta Ballet. He started his career as a dancer with the Washington Ballet at the Kennedy Center. In comments, he said he was honored "to help navigate post-pandemic challenges [and] pursue opportunities for growth."

The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), which prides itself on being the only full-time professional orchestra in the state, has tapped Stephanie Lobato as its first managing director, charged with increasing revenue streams and nurturing relationships with new and longtime patrons. She joins the LSO from the Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra (HSO), where during her four-year tenure as director of advancement she is credited with increasing subscribers, doubling the donor base, and revitalizing the HSO’s corporate giving program. Lobato also initiated the revival of outdoor summer concerts, built audiences for a new symphony series, and introduced the orchestra's first music director to the community.

The Seattle-based Music of Remembrance (MOR) has tapped Lorri Staal as its first executive director. A legal professional and experienced corporate litigator, Staal joined the staff on Feb. 26. She previously presided over operations at JND Legal Administration, and before that over client services at EPIQ, a global provider of legal administration services. A longtime human rights advocate, Staal has engaged in volunteer work with several organizations aligned with MOR’s mission, including as pro bono in-house counsel to the Seattle Symphony.

The BBC Concert Orchestra has tapped Matthew Swann to succeed Andrew Connolly, who stepped down in 2020 after 20 years, as director, effective on March 27. Swann arrives at the BBC with more than 20 years of leadership experience, including nine as CEO of City of London Sinfonia as well as roles at the Roundhouse in Camden and Orchestras Live. He is a co-founder of Your Turn Collective, a support organization for classical music creators from under-represented backgrounds.

At the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO), Sarah Bardwell follows James Williams as managing director ahead of the 2024-25 season. Bardwell joins the RPO from Britten Pears Arts, where she has been the executive director of the charity behind Snape Maltings, The Red House, and the Aldeburgh Festival. In her previous position as CEO of the Britten Pears Foundation, she led the merger with Snape Maltings that created Britten Pears Arts. Bardwell was also a key player in the recently completed £3 million transformation of London’s Handel House Museum into the Handel Hendrix House.

As of July 2024, Eric Melear will become the new artistic director of the London-based National Opera Studio. He succeeds David Sulkin OBE, in the position for six years. Melear will partner with Executive Director Nicholas Simpson in a new joint leadership structure for the organization. Melear has championed the development young singers and pianists at both the Houston Grand Opera and Wolf Trap Opera, and is a frequent guest coach in the U.K., Italy, and the U.S. He has guest conducted at the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival and at numerous U.S. opera houses, including Houston Grand Opera, Arizona Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, and Des Moines Metro Opera.

The Walton Arts Center welcomes Carlos Vicente as its new vice president of marketing and sales. Vicente will be responsible for marketing, public relations, ticketing and box office for Walton Arts Center, the state’s busiest arts presenter, and its outdoor amphitheater, the Walmart AMP. Vicente, originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, comes to Northwest Arkansas from Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he served as vice president of marketing and communications for the Grand Rapids Symphony since 2021. Before that, Vicente was director of marketing and communications at the Sarasota Opera in Sarasota, Florida.

Central City Opera (CCO) has named Stage Director Alison Moritz as its new artistic director. A noted freelance director, Moritz has staged productions for the major opera companies of Cincinnati, Kansas City, Wolf Trap, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C., where she workshopped and directed Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up. She was interim managing artistic director of opera at Peabody Conservatory in 2021-22 and has taught and directed at conservatories, such as Juilliard and the Shepherd School at Rice University, and worked with young artists programs from Santa Fe to Glimmerglass.

Paolo Arcà, artistic director of La Scala decades ago (1997-2003), is to take the post at Opera di Roma. Arcà will work in conjunction with Intendant Francesco Giambrone and Music Director Michele Mariotti. Also a noted composer and pianist, he has occupied artistic leadership positions at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Carlo Felice di Genoa, Teatro Regio, and the Green Festival of Parma.

Hervé Boissière, founder and managing director of medici.tv, is to turn his attentions “exclusively” to the Verbier Festival as its new co-CEO, effective April 15. He will codirect the esteemed 30-year-old event together with its founder, Martin T:son Engstroem, 71. Boissière arrives just a few weeks before Câline Yamakawa, who has worked at the Verbier Festival Foundation for 18 years, the last six as COO, departs.

Daniela Nardi, a recorded solo vocalist whose career has encompassed marketing, producing, fundraising, and administrative leadership, is to be the new executive director of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, founded in 1894 and one of the most highly regarded choruses in the country. Nardi, who succeeds Anna Katjár, was recently interim executive director of Tafelmusik and is said to have revitalized 918 Bathurst Centre for Arts, Culture, Media, and Education as its executive and artistic director. Her new ensemble is a core of 24 professional vocalists that can expand to 100 with auditioned volunteers.

The North Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, a professional ensemble of musicians from Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and Arkansas, has hired a new executive director. The new administrative boss is one Brooke Bullock Burleson, 26, who teaches piano and dance locally and has worked in marketing, fund raising, and digital media. She holds degrees in journalism and political science from the University of Southern Mississippi. Burleson succeeds Lisa Martin.

Music Academy (of the West) has appointed Nate Bachhuber as chief artistic officer as of February 26. Bachhuber was most recently an artistic advisor at the St. Louis Symphony for seven months; before that he was with the Cincinnati Symphony for five years as VP of artistic planning, the Los Angeles Philharmonic as artistic administrator for two years, and Carnegie Hall for two, largely in marketing and PR. He holds an MM in opera from Curtis.

At Toronto's Luminato Festival, Olivia Ansell, an accomplished arts leader, director, and performance artist who is current director of the Sydney Festival, will succeed Naomi Campbell as artistic director, who stepped aside in 2023 after five years. Ansell is not scheduled to arrive until 2025. Ansell previously served as head of contemporary performance at the Sydney Opera House and has been in her current position since 2020. She has received high marks for steering the festival through the pandemic and exceeding attendance projections when live performances resumed.

The Colburn School promoted Nate Zeisler, interim provost, to the full position, succeeding Adrian Daly, who died in August. Zeisler has been at the school for 13 years, teaching career development and community engagement courses. While serving as interim provost, he was also VP of partnerships and planning. In his new post, assumed last month, he is chief academic officer for the Conservatory of Music, Community School of Performing Arts, Music Academy, and Trudl Zipper Dance Institute—a total of over 2,000 students, plus faculty and staff. Prior to Colburn, he was assistant professor of bassoon and entrepreneurship at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, and began his career as an elementary school music teacher.

The Chattanooga Symphony & Opera (CSO) has selected Susan W. Caminez as its new executive director. She succeeds John Kilkenny, who left after three years to fill the same position at the New York Youth Symphony. Caminez joined the CSO in 2021, progressing from bookkeeper to become the organization’s first director of education and community impact. In that role she reimagined the ensemble’s young people’s concerts and successfully reached out to new audiences with the support of a four-year, $200,000 grant from city government.

The Toledo Opera has tapped two insiders to succeed Executive Director Suzanne Rorick when she steps aside after 13 years on May 31, 2024. James M. Norman and Kevin Bylsma, the new general director and artistic director respectively, have collectively worked for the company for 45 years. Norman, a native of Toledo, first sang in the opera chorus in 1981, and from 1987 until 2000 performed in both chorus and comprimari roles. Eleven years later he served a stage manager for Turandot. Thereafter he was a part-time production manager until 2016, when he was appointed director of production. In the fall of 2019, Rorick named him co-artistic director. Bylsma joined Toledo Opera from Michigan Opera Theater (now Detroit Opera) in 1997 as head of music preparation and musical assistant to James Meena, principal artistic director at the time. In 2003 he became a vocal coach and the coordinator of opera at Bowling Green State University, soon to return to the opera company, where his role has evolved to include principal rehearsal pianist for all mainstage operas, chorus master, co-artistic director, and head of music preparation. Since 2006 he has overseen the longtime partnership between the university and the opera company.

Branford Marsalis, the jazz saxophonist and composer whose career includes movie scores, Grammy-winning recordings, and a stint as the leader of The Tonight Show band, is taking on a new job in his hometown of New Orleans. Marsalis has been named as the new artistic director for the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music. The center is named for Branford’s late father, patriarch of a family of accomplished New Orleans musicians that also includes trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis, Branford’s brother.

In late March 2024 John Kilkenny will join the New York Youth Symphony (NYYS) as executive director, succeeding Shauna Quill, who was in the position for 12 years. Kilkenny will oversee all aspects of an organization that each season sees more than 260 students between the ages of 10 and 22 take part in orchestra, chamber music, jazz, composition, musical theater, songwriting, and apprentice conducting programs. He will also have responsibility for supervising community outreach, fundraising, artistic programming, and marketing.

The Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) has announced several new appointments to its artistic leadership team, chief among which is Nina Yoshida Nelsen as artistic director. She succeeds Esther Nelson, who until March 2021 held the position of general and artistic director. Nelson was succeeded on an interim basis by Bradley Vernatter, who subsequently advised the board that the two roles should be split. Joining Nelsen as a second newcomer to the BLO is theater director Anne Bogart, who has previously staged several operas with the BLO and now assumes the role of artistic associate. She will contribute to mainstage repertoire planning, particularly as it relates to dramaturgical issues and performance.

The Oregon Bach Festival (OBF) has announced that Jos van Veldhoven, longtime artistic director of the Netherlands Bach Society, and Craig Hella Johnson, in the same post with the Austin-based vocal ensemble Conspirare, are to be the festival’s new artistic partners. As artistic director of the Netherlands Bach Society for more than 35 years, Veldhoven has initiated hundreds of performances and recordings of Bach’s work. Craig Hella Johnson will devote his energies to improving the OBF’s educational offerings, sharpening its vocal performances, and promoting the inclusion of contemporary choral music as part of the festival offerings.

Librettist/producer Lila Palmer is to be general and artistic director of the New Orleans Opera Association (NOOA), effective in May, about one year after predecessor Clare Burovac announced her exit after three years. A onetime mezzo-soprano, Palmer has overseen arts programming for heritage spaces including the Museum of London and heard her librettos performed at Edinburgh Fringe, Gran Teatro del Liceu, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and Glimmerglass, among others. She will continue her work as a librettist, citing Mark Adamo and Rene Orth among collaborators.

Betsey Perlmutter, a multi-discipline producer who helped establish the New York Philharmonic “Art of the Score” series, has been officially named vice president of Schirmer Theatrical. Established in 2015, Schirmer Theatrical self-defines as specializing in “non-traditional symphonic and film concerts“ and boasts some 150 packages, using mostly music from its vast composer catalogs. Schirmer puts these packages together for symphony orchestras and other presenters.

Francesco Ventriglia is to become artistic director of the Alberta Ballet, which performs its mainstage season in Calgary and Francesco Ventriglia is to become artistic director of the Alberta Ballet, which performs its mainstage season in Calgary and Edmonton. Assuming his new post in January 2024, the former dancer with the La Scala Ballet succeeds Christopher Anderson, who has filled the position since July 2022.Edmonton. Assuming his new post in January 2024, the former dancer with the La Scala Ballet succeeds Christopher Anderson, who has filled the position since July 2022.

Opéra de Lille will welcome a new director when Barbara Eckle arrives on July 1, 2025 to succeed Caroline Sonrier, in the position since 2003. Eckle was dramaturg at the Ruhrtriennale International Festival of Arts from 2020 to 2023, and before that at the Staatsoper de Stuttgart from 2018 to 2020.

Francesco Ventriglia is to become artistic director of the Alberta Ballet, which performs its mainstage season in Calgary and Francesco Ventriglia is to become artistic director of the Alberta Ballet, which performs its mainstage season in Calgary and Edmonton. Assuming his new post in January 2024, the former dancer with the La Scala Ballet succeeds Christopher Anderson, who has filled the position since July 2022.Edmonton. Assuming his new post in January 2024, the former dancer with the La Scala Ballet succeeds Christopher Anderson, who has filled the position since July 2022.

Opéra de Lille will welcome a new director when Barbara Eckle arrives on July 1, 2025 to succeed Caroline Sonrier, in the position since 2003. Eckle was dramaturg at the Ruhrtriennale International Festival of Arts from 2020 to 2023, and before that at the Staatsoper de Stuttgart from 2018 to 2020.

Kristin Lavin has been appointed associate dean of external relations at Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, a position that oversees development, alumni relations, and marketing and communications. Lavin is the former senior director for stewardship and donor engagement at the University.

The University of Kansas has named Paul Popiel as the next dean of its School of Music. He has served as interim dean since last January and has been a professor of music since 2010. Popiel, a conductor, was previously director of bands at the School from 2010 to 2022. He succeeds Robert Walzel, who had been in the job from 2010.

Christopher Marks, professor at the Glenn Korff School of Music since 2006 at the University of Nebraska (UN), where he is also associate dean of the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts, takes over as associate vice chancellor for faculty affairs at UN-Lincoln as of Jan. 8.

Susan Miller Kotses, current VP of education and community engagement at the Pacific Symphony, is to become executive director of the Los Angeles Chlldren’s Chorus (LACC) as of February 8. She succeeds Kurt Swanson, an area arts consultant who has been serving as interim since July. Kotses, a former professional singer with advanced degrees in voice performance from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and arts management from Carnegie Mellon University, has an impressive track record at Pacific Symphony where her efforts reached “60,000 constituents, engaging 1,000 volunteers, and training and deploying 50 teaching artists and content creators.”

Cincinnati May Festival has promoted Associate Director of Choruses Matthew Swanson to director. He succeeds Robert Porco who retires at the end of the next festival. Swanson joined the 130-member May Festival Chorus as a tenor in 2011 and worked his way up. Currently he oversees the May Festival Youth Chorus. In his new job, which starts in June, he’ll be responsible for preparing the May Festival Chorus for its own annual concerts in May 2024 as well as those with the CSO and the Cincinnati Pops. The Festival’s origins date to 1873; it is a volunteer ensemble.

The Pacific Chorale has named its Director of Artistic Production Alex Nelson to the new position of VP of artistic production and operations, effective immediately. Nelson has been with the 200-voice group for six seasons. The new post adds to his current duties day-to-day operations and delivering on the Chorale’s fiscal goals and strategies. He’ll also assist Artistic Director Robert Istad.

As of March 2024, Sir Nicholas Kenyon will become Chair of Trustees at Arcangelo, the internationally acclaimed period performance ensemble. He succeeds Rosalyn Wilkinson, in the position since 2014. Kenyon has served as controller of BBC Radio 3 (1992-98), director of the BBC Proms (1996-2007) and managing director of the Barbican Center (2007-2021). Currently chief opera critic of The Telegraph, he has in the past been a critic for the New Yorker, The Times (London), and The Observer.

The Borletti-Buitoni Trust has announced that Toby Smith is to be its new chief executive. He succeeds the retiring Susan Rivers, who has run the organization since its founding in 2002. The Milan-based trust provides financial support through annual awards, first made in 2003, to help classical instrumentalists, ensembles, and singers in their early 20s and 30s further develop international careers. Smith’s extensive experience as an arts administrator includes a nine-year stint as director of performance and programming at the Royal Northern College of Music and as festival director of the Salisbury International Arts Festival. Most recently he served as associate director of the Greenwich + Docklands International Festival and Global Streets. He also earned a degree in music from the University of York and in 1995 co-founded the Early Opera Company, which specializes in Baroque vocal music.

Kristen Linfante, executive director and artistic director for Chamber Music Pittsburgh, is to assume the former post with The Knights as of next month. She’ll be working with the group’s founding Artistic Directors Colin and Eric Jacobsen and succeeding Bridget Mundy, with the Knights for five years. Linfante’s previous position was general manager and director of artistic operations and touring for Apollo’s Fire Baroque Orchestra, an ensemble with which she performed.

The Eugene (OR) Symphony has chosen Dave Moss, recent president and CEO of the Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra (HSO), to be its next executive director, effective in January. He succeeds Scott Freck, who left last June after 11 years in the job. Prior to Hawai’i, where he is credited with balancing the orchestra’s check book against the odds of the pandemic, Moss was executive director of Chicago’s Haymarket Opera.

Bodo Busse, the current general intendant of Germany’s Staatstheater Saarbrücken, is to take on the same post at Staatsoper Hannover as of 2025-26, succeeding American Laura Berman.

Aaron Doty, current VP and general manager of the Grand Rapids Symphony, is to be the new president and CEO of the Reno (NV) Philharmonic. His appointment caps a search that began last summer, with David Hyslop serving as interim. Doty’s past positions include orchestra personnel & operations manager for the Washington National Opera; he has been in his current position for four years and holds an MM in conducting from Ohio University.

The Welsh National Opera has tapped Christopher Barron to be interim general director in early January 2024. He follows Aidan Lang, who is retiring at the end of this year after four years in the position. Barron has considerable high-level experience as an arts administrator. Among his postings: an early role as general manager of the Edinburgh International Festival, chief executive of Birmingham Royal Ballet and of Scottish Opera and Scottish Ballet, and artistic director and chief executive of the Brighton Festival and Dome.

Stanford Live, the multi-genre performing arts presenter at Stanford University, has named Iris Nemani, chief programming officer of Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre, as its next director. She arrives in April and succeeds Chris Lorway, who was also from Toronto; Lorway left last April to become president and CEO of the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Part of Nermani’s remit will be to collaborate with the university’s department of music. She arrives as a member of the senior arts leadership team under Deborah Cullinan, Stanford’s vice president for the arts and acting director of Stanford Live.

The Music School of Delaware, an accredited community institution serving its home state and nearby environs, will have a new president and CEO as it enters its centennial year in 2024. He is Stephen Beaudoin, an energetic music executive on the rise in the Washington, D.C., area. Beaudoin, who sits on the board of the Beaudoin Family Foundation, arrives in Delaware after just over a year as executive director of New Jersey’s South Orange Performing Arts Center.

Christopher White, head of music at Deutsche Oper Berlin since 2016, is to be the next head of opera at the Royal Academy of Music, his alma mater. He starts next September, succeeding Brenda Hurley who is moving to the role of visiting professor after four years in the job. White has been working under her as head of the vocal faculty, opera, at the Academy for the last year.

Aviel Cahn arrives at the new intendant of Deutsche Oper Berlin in 2026-27 (and Runnicles exits as music director), he leaves his current post as general manager of the Grand Théâtre de Genève where his successor is to be Alain Perroux, a former dramaturge at Genève who served as director of artistic administration and dramaturge at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence from 2009 to 2020. Perroux is a former music critic for the Journal de Genève and for Le Temps.

Tom Philpott, acting co-director of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, as well as director of planning for that organization, is to move to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in March as its director of artistic planning and partnerships. The post is a new one, created in the wake of Managing Director James Williams’s departure next summer to be director of the Royal College of Music.

Prague Summer Nights: Young Artists Music Festival, which is produced by Classical Movements and its CEO Neeta Helms, has named Derek Maselhoff to be its next director, while renewing the contract of Artistic Director John Nardolillo. Maselhoff is Classical Next’s operations manager; previously he was director of artistic planning for the National Youth Orchestra of China.

Helen Wallace is to be the new head of music at London’s Barbican Centre, effective in February of 2024. She succeeds Will Gompertz, who this past August announced he would leave the Barbican after a three-year tenure to become director of the Sir John Soane’s Museum this January. Wallace is currently the artistic and executive director at Kings Place, where she first assumed an advisory role in 2009. She became director of programming in 2018, and rose to her current post in 2020.

Sean Michael Gross, who has headed up Warner Classics in the U.K. since 2021, has added North America to his portfolio and will now split his time between London and the U.S. He will continue to report to Alain Lanceron, president, Warner Classics and Erato. During the past two years in London, Gross has been credited with growing the Warner label’s market share, introducing emerging artists such as Abel Selaocoe, Fatma Said and RIOPY, and leading the successful campaign to make the Official Classical Charts more inclusive.

As of January 2024, Sarah Meyers is to be the new artistic director at On Site Opera, where she will succeed Eric Einhorn, who co-founded the New York City-based company in 2012. Meyers brings extensive experience as a director of traditional opera and site-specific projects as well as the developer of new works. She has been a member of the directing staff at the Metropolitan Opera for more than a decade and has also worked at a number of regional companies as well as at On Site.

Paul Wiancko, newly arrived cellist of the Kronos Quartet, has been chosen to succeed the late Geoff Nuttall as director of the chamber music series at the Spoleto Festival USA. Spoleto General Director & CEO Mena Mark Hanna said the new man will be “an engine of ingenuity for Spoleto,” noting that he would be exploring the new and usual and “subverting our expectations of what is western and non-western, canonic and not canonic, new and old.”

Edwaard Liang is to be the new artistic director of the Washington Ballet. Liang comes to the D.C. Company after a decade as artistic director of BalletMet in Columbus, Ohio, where he nearly doubled the organization’s budget and choreographed 21 works. A native of Taiwan who was raised in California, the 48-year-old Liang danced with the New York City Ballet and Nederlands Dans Theater and has created ballets for the San Francisco Ballet, New York City Ballet, Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet, and Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet. Since 2008 he has also choreographed five works for his new company.

Alessandra Ferri will become the new director of the Vienna State Ballet in September of 2025, succeeding Martin Schläpfer, in the position since the 2020/21 season. A Milanese native, the 60-year-old Ferri was principal dancer at the Royal Ballet and the American Ballet Theater, and remains prima ballerina assoluta at La Scala. During her career, she has made guest appearances with all the major international companies and directed the dance programming of the Spoleto Festival from 2008 to 2014.

Succeeding Paul Helfrich as executive director of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra is Karina Bharne, currently in that job with Symphony Tacoma in Washington. Prior to her five years in Tacoma, Bharne served as interim executive director of the San Antonio Symphony, part of Michael Kaiser’s team to put that orchestra, now defunct, on solid footing.

Brenna Corner, a freelance opera director currently based in Atlanta, has been appointed artistic director at Pacific Opera Victoria. She succeeds Founding Artistic Director Timothy Vernon, 75, who retired in June after 23 years. Corner’s directing credits range from Glimmerglass and the Washington National Opera to the Vancouver, Calgary, and Israeli operas, and from standard repertoire to new work.

At Arabella Arts, founded three years ago by Stefana Atlas and Samantha Scully, Guiomar Blanco arrives in the new position of head of European strategy and artist manager. Characterized as a “manager, pianist, and musicologist with 20 years of international experience,” Blanco formerly headed Music Management GB; her CV also includes stints at Spanish agencies Agencia Camera and Conciertos Augusto.

At Alliance Artist Management, Andrew Pudvah, former West Coast booking manager at IMG Artists, has joined the firm’s booking team. He boasts 25 years in the field, 14 of them with National Geographic, where he is credited with expanding its live speakers series considerably.

The Oslo Philharmonic has selected Knut Skansen as its new managing director as of Jan.1, 2024. He succeeds Ingrid Røynesdal, who became director of the National Museum on Oct. 1. Skansen, who has a degree in literature, joins the Philharmonic from the Deichman Library in Oslo, Norway's largest cultural institution. He has been at the library for almost two decades, during which time he oversaw the construction of the new library in the Bjørvika neighborhood of the nation’s capital city.

Brian Speck, former director of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, has joined the Metropolitan Opera as artistic administrator. He succeeds Paul Hopper, who moved last May from associate artistic administrator at the Met to senior director of artistic planning at the LA Opera. At the Met, Speck works with Michael Heaston, assistant general manager, artistic, on casting and planning with a focus on small roles and covers.

Colin Michael Brush is the new director of the Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio. He succeeds Brian Speck, in the position since 2015, and comes to Houston from ADA Artists/UIA Talent in Berlin, where he managed a roster of artists performing in European and other international markets. As director of the studio, Brush will oversee the artistic development of the program’s emerging artists while also identifying and recruiting future candidates from within the U.S. and around the world for HGO seasons.

Amy Cassello, associate director of the Brooklyn Academy of Music since 2020, is to serve as its artistic director on an interim basis, following the exit of David Binder in July. Binder will remain as advisor until 2024. Cassello arrived at BAM in 2012, as associate producer of the Next Wave Festival and has been on the rise at the company ever since.

Central City Opera, which came close to losing its entire summer season due to thorny AGMA negotiations, has named Scott Finlay as its new president and CEO. He succeeds Pamela Pantos, who exited rather suddenly in July. Finlay has been serving as one of the two interims in the time since. Previously he was the company’s VP of development, a post he came to not long after Pantos’s arrival, in June 2022.

Sue Elliott is to be general director and CEO of the Calgary Opera as of November 20, 2023. She succeeds Heather Kitchen, who is retiring after five years in the job and 40 in arts administration. Elliott arrives to the 50-year-old opera troupe after serving as chief audience officer at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA. Prior to that she was the inaugural director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Linde Center/Tanglewood Learning Center.

Scott Altman, current president and CEO of the Cincinnati Ballet, onetime opera singer and opera company executive, is to be the new president and CEO of the Los Angeles Master Chorale as of January 2. He succeeds Jean Davidson, who exited in March. Commenting on Altman’s appointment, Master Chorale Artistic Director Grant Gershon said the new man’s vision was “fully aligned with my own” and pointed to the Chorale as “ramping up for a major expansion of all our activities.”

Alfrelynn Roberts has joined the Portland (OR) Opera as director of artistic planning and operations; she comes to Portland from Fort Worth Opera, where she was associate artistic director & chorus master from 2018-2023. Roberts succeeds Priti Gandhi, in the job from 2021 until she was named associate director of the Met Opera Laffont Competition in September 2023. Roberts reports to Portland General Director Sue Dixon. Damien Geter is listed on the company website as interim music director and artistic advisor.

The Southwest Florida Symphony (SWFS), located in Fort Myers, has named Raniero Tazzi as its new artistic and operations director. Entering its 63rd season the 70-member ensemble is led by music director Radu Paponiu and offers a 5-concert masterwork series as well as three pop concerts. In his new role, Tazzi will oversee concert and event production, as well as auditions. “Raniero is the perfect fit for our team,” said Amy Ginsburg, executive director of the SWFS, citing “his diverse experience and community familiarity.

Priti Gandhi is the new associate director of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. She succeeds Brady Walsh, who left the job in August. Gandhi comes to the Met after serving as artistic director of the Portland Opera for just two years. Previously she was chief artistic officer of the Minnesota Opera and, before that of the San Diego Opera, where she made her debut as a soprano, then mezzo soprano in 1996 and then returned seven years later as artistic administrator. Gandhi has sung with Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera, Theatre du Chatelet, the Royal Opera House, New York City Opera, and San Francisco Opera, among others, and appeared with orchestras from the New York Philharmonic to the Philadelphia Orchestra. She has also been a writer, publishing a weekly behind the scenes in opera column for The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Jenny Wong is the San Francisco Symphony Chorus director as of the 2023-24 season, also the ensemble’s 50th. She is the fourth person to take the job, joining an impressive lineage: Louis Magor (1974–1982), Vance George (1983–2007), and Ragnar Bohlin (2007–2021), who resigned in protest of the orchestra’s vaccination mandate. Margaret Hillis served as interim during the 1982–83 season. Also associate artistic director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Wong, a native of Hong Kong, has conducted choruses for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Industry, Long Beach Opera, and more. She holds a DMA and an MM from the University of Southern California and a BA in voice performance from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Violinist Abi Fayette has succeeded cellist Jim Wilson as artistic director of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. She is also a recent member of the Catalyst Quartet, succeeding Jessie Montgomery. The 29-year-old artist holds a bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute, where she was concertmaster of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, and a master’s degree from the New England Conservatory. She has been a member of Orpheus since 2020; her sister, 31-year-old cellist Madeline Fayette, has also joined the orchestra.

On Sept. 1, Sarah Cole became Interim Dean of the School of the Arts at Columbia University, succeeding Carol Becker, who was in the role for 16 years. Cole will step aside from her current post as the Dean of Humanities for the duration of her interim assignment. She is also the Parr Professor of English and Comparative Literature. A scholar of literary modernism, Cole has co-founded the NYNJ Modernism Seminar and founded Columbia’s Humanities War and Peace and Climate Humanities initiatives. Her teaching ranges across the 19th and 20th centuries, and includes topics such as war and violence, the body and sexuality, Irish literature, and the works of Woolf, Eliot, Wells, Joyce, and others.

The Boston Baroque, approaching is 50th-anniversary season in 2023-24, has appointed Sarah Radcliffe-Marrs as its next executive director, as of November 1st. She succeeds Jennifer Ritvo Hughes, who in July was appointed CEO of the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic. Radcliffe-Marrs was most recently executive director of Blue Heron, a Boston-area vocal ensemble specializing in Renaissance and medieval vocal music. Previously, she held roles in the artistic and concert operations departments at the Boston Symphony Orchestra and at the Celebrity Series of Boston. A native of the U.K., she earned undergraduate and master's degrees in music and musicology from the University of Oxford, subsequently working for the Royal College of Music, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the BBC Proms & Radio 3. She moved to the U.S. in 2012.

In Maine, Renia Shterenberg is the new administrative chief of the Bangor Symphony and the Bangor Symphony Youth Orchestras, succeeding Sarah S. P. McCarthy. A former violinist, Shterenberg is the recent general manager of the Britt Festival Orchestra in Jacksonville, OR, and onetime executive director of the Olmos Ensemble chamber-music group in San Antonio, TX. Lucas Richman is music director and conductor of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra.

The Concours musical international de Montréal (CMIM) has chosen a leadership team from within to succeed Christiane LeBlanc, who announced her retirement last February and left in May. She had served as both executive and artistic director since 2012. In her stead, Chantal Poulin becomes executive director and Shira Gilbert artistic director. The two women have been critical players in the last three editions of the Concours and have collaborated in the post since LeBlanc’s departure. Poulin is the longer tenured of the duo, joining the CMIM in 2019 and fulfilling successive roles in communications, logistics, and production before becoming part of the general management team in August 2021. Previous to joining Concours, she was a consultant, best known for her management of 360-degree projects and large-scale events. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in History, followed by a Master of Arts, at the Université du Québec à Montréal. Gilbert arrived at the CMIM in the fall of 2022 after working as a communications consultant with numerous musicians and presenters. During a stint as publicity manager for Universal Classics Group (Deutsche Grammophon and Decca), Gilbert worked closely with such prestigious artists as Renée Fleming, Cecilia Bartoli, Hilary Hahn, Lang Lang, and Anna Netrebko.

The Monterey Jazz Festival has announced that composer and musician Darin Atwater is to succeed Tim Jackson as artistic director. Jackson is retiring after leading the world’s longest continuously running jazz festival for 32 years. A Washington, DC, native, Atwater studied at Morgan State University and Peabody Conservatory before embarking on a more than 20-year career that has included roles as an artistic director, composer, conductor, pianist, vocalist, and cultural advocate.

David J. Kitto, executive director of the National Theater Foundation in Washington, D.C., is to be the new executive director of the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival as of October 30. He succeeds Steven Ovitsky, who last fall announced his intention to retire at the end of the current season, on August 31. He has been in the job for 20 years. In his current job since 2019, Kitto oversees all operations, educational programs, fundraising, marketing, and capital planning. Previously he served as the interim president of The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center / La Jolla Music Society (2018-19), senior VP of marketing and sales at the Kennedy Center (2001-2017), where he worked with an annual operating budget of over $200 million, and director of marketing and ticket operations at Carnegie Hall (1983 to 2000). He holds a BA in Music and an M.A. in Arts Administration, both from the University of Michigan.

The San Francisco Opera has appointed Georgi Kelly as chief philanthropy officer effective October 2, where she succeeds Lisa Bury, who left the company last spring. Kelly joins the SFO from KQED, the San Francisco-based NPR and PBS member station, where she first came to work in 2001 and rose, by 2016, to become VP of development. In her capacity she oversaw the $135 million Campaign 21 as well as all fundraising activities for the $105-million public media organization.

Susan Avila joined the Los Angeles Music Center as senior VP of advancement in September. She follows Valentine Gelman, in the position since 2016. Avila served most recently at the California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco, first as VP of advancement from 2000 to 2008 and then as senior VP from 2008 to 2023. Other previous postings included the director of development at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

David Hyslop is the new interim president and CEO of the Reno (NV) Philharmonic. Hyslop’s most recent post was at the helm of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic. He has held CEO positions with the Oregon Symphony (1972-1978), the St. Louis Symphony (1978-1991), and the Minnesota Orchestra (1991-2003). Since then, he has served interim CEO for the Omaha, Dallas, Louisville, Stockton, and South Dakota symphonies, the Orlando and Oklahoma City philharmonics, the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, and Dallas Summer Musicals.

Santa Barbara chamber music group Camerata Pacifica announced that its new executive director, in the job since June 1, is Ana Papakhian. Papakhian’s most recent position was at the Music Academy (of the West), where she served as chief marketing and communications officer; previously she was director of communications for The Cleveland Orchestra and the Indianapolis Symphony.

The Moab Music Festival has a new executive director in Amy Weiser, most recently city manager for Moab. She joins founders Artistic Director/violist Leslie Tomkins and Music Director/pianist Michael Barrett in oversight of the 31-year-old event, which this season runs through September 15 and hosts 23 performances in a wide variety of outdoor and historic venues.

Patty Isacson Sabee, current executive director of Planet Word in Washington, D.C., former CEO of the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle, is to succeed Wayne S. Brown as president and CEO of the Detroit Opera. Isacson Sabee previously worked in a number of capacities for the Seattle Symphony and is married to one of its players. She is a graduate of Grinnell College in Iowa.

New York’s Juilliard School has announced the appointment of a new assistant dean and director of chamber music. Merry Peckham, a cellist, educator, and experienced arts administrator will take up the role at the beginning of January 2024. Peckham is currently associate director and director of the chamber music workshop for the Perlman Music Program as well as chair of chamber music at the New England Conservatory.

The Ulster Orchestra has added the position of artistic director and deputy chief executive with the appointment of Patrick McCarthy, Ulster's former principal trumpet and head of artistic planning. He will report to CEO Auveen Sands, the former corporate banker who was promoted from COO to the top job about one year ago.

British countertenor Andrew Watts is to succeed Ivan van Kalmthout as general director of the International Vocal Competition (IVC) 's-Hertogenbosch, effective September 1. Celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2024, the competition this year focuses on LiedDuo, with the live rounds scheduled to run October 10-15; baritone Bo Skovhus is chairman of the international jury. Past laureates range from Elly Ameling to Thomas Hampson to Pretty Yende.

Timo H. Buckow is the new artistic director of the annual Rheingau Musik Festival in Oestrich-Winkel, Germany. His arrival in fact is a return; he started his professional career in 2006 in the artistic administration department of the festival. Buckow has been working his way up the ladder ever since, with occasional forays elsewhere—including Pro Arte Frankfurt and Wiesbaden Musik.

Ottavio Dantone is to be the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music’s next music director and succeeds Alessandro De Marchi, artistic director of the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, whose 47th edition, focusing on Vivaldi concluded at the end of August. De Marchi recently was presented with the Ring of Honor of the City of Innsbruck by the Mayor for his many years of service. Current Operations Director Mag. Eva-Maria Sens will take over as artistic director.

Shauna Quill, current executive director of the New York Youth Symphony (NYSS), is to succeed Scott Reed as president and CEO of the Music Academy, formerly known as the Music Academy of the West. Quill’s 12 years at the helm of NYYS included introducing new programs for NYC teenage students; forming partnerships with Interlochen, Harlem School of the Arts, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, among others; and expanding the orchestra’s repertoire. She has also raised its profile considerably, including performances on CBS Sunday Morning, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and CNN.

Carlo Fuortes, who resigned as head of the Italian public broadcaster RAI last May, is in at Teatro San Carlo in Naples as general manager. Prior to his RAI job, Fuortes was superintendent of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma.

Isaac Thompson, managing director of the New York Philharmonic, is to be the next president and CEO of the Oregon Symphony, moving from No. 2 at the former to No. 1 in Oregon. He starts in October. Thompson’s accomplishments in New York are impressive: playing a key role in planning both Van Zweden’s inaugural season as well as the orchestra’s initial season in the new David Geffen Hall. He’s also responsible for the NY Phil Bandwagon, a big hit during the pandemic, as well as a variety of other community-in reach projects and the Nightcap contemporary music series.

Overture Center for the Arts has selected Jenie Dahlmann as chief marketing and communications officer, following an executive search process led by Arts Consulting Group (ACG). She began her tenure on July 5, 2023. Dahlmann most recently served as the director of marketing & engagement at the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts in Northridge, CA, where she was responsible for securing $2.5M in earned revenue and $500k in contributed revenue.

The Dayton Performing Arts Alliance (DPAA) has chosen Brandon Ragland as Dayton Ballet’s artistic director, following an executive search process led by Arts Consulting Group (ACG). He began his tenure on August 1, 2023. Ragland, a seasoned ballet professional with over 15 years of experience, joins Dayton from the esteemed Louisville Ballet. During his tenure there, he excelled as a principal dancer, skillfully managed the Louisville Ballet School's pre-professional program, and contributed his creative prowess as a resident choreographer.

The Young People’s Chorus of New York City announced the appointment of Michael Fraccaro as chair of its board of directors, which he joined in 2018. Mr. Fraccaro currently serves as the chief people officer (CPO) for Mastercard, where his proven ability to grow organizations through innovative approaches aligns with YPC’s vision to strengthen and expand its impact among youth and throughout the chorus industry.

Jensen Artists announced the appointment of Gina Meola to the role of vice president of artist management and booking. Effective immediately, Meola will be promoted from director of artist bookings to her new role. Having joined Jensen Artists in 2015 as the agency's first booking agent, Meola has, for the last eight years, worked to shape the careers of Jesen Artists’ artists and ensembles, all with a dedication to bringing classical music to the widest possible audience.

West Virginia’s Wheeling Symphony Orchestra (WSO) has hired Sonja Thoms as its new executive director. Thoms has been VP of operations for the Nashville Symphony since 2015. She holds an MM in oboe performance from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University and has performed with Lucerne Academy Orchestra, the New World Symphony, and Alarm Will Sound, among others. In 2019, she launched OrchestraCareers.com, a mentoring/job hunting website.

San Diego Opera has a new chief development director in Llewellyn Crain, who comes to the organization from the city’s Old Globe theatre, where she has been director of philanthropy since 2016. Across her seven-year tenure there, she is credited with increasing the donor pool by 200 percent and the annual fund by over 40 percent and helping to restore the organization’s finances, post-pandemic. In her new job, she’ll have many of the same duties, as well as overseeing special events. She’ll report to General Director David Bennett and becomes part of the senior staff.

The Louisville Youth Orchestra (LYO), now in its 65th year, has announced the appointment of Matthew Vanover as executive director. He arrives from a similar position at the Immanuel School of Music at Immanuel Church in Louisville. LYO currently serves some 250 students who play in various ensembles, from chamber to full orchestra, and train under a staff of 15.

The Shed has hired the CEO of the Boston Ballet, Meredith Hodges, for the same role. The move is necessitated by Alex Poots’s decision in January to focus solely on matters artistic rather than attempting to continue as both CEO and artistic director. Poots will report to Hodges, also known as Max. Hodges, a Harvard MBA, has a pretty stunning track record. In Boston, she increased the endowment from $14 million to $36 million during her nine-year tenure; the 60-year-old company’s attendance record in 2022-23, of 170,000, was its second highest on record.

Ballet Hispánico, which self-defines as the largest Latinx/Latine/Hispanic cultural organization in the U.S., comprised of a dance company, school, and community-partnership hub, has created the new position of chief managing director and named Patrick Muhlen as its first appointee. He will report to Artistic Director & Chief Executive Officer Eduardo Vilaro, taking on all of the “executive office” functions. Muhlen, a lawyer with a BA from the University of Sydney, is the previous managing director of the Washington Ballet and chief development officer of the San Diego Opera. He has also worked in development for the Los Angeles and Houston Grand operas and, prior to moving to the U.S., held assorted financial directorships in the government of New South Wales.

The San Antonio Philharmonic, the new iteration of the defunct San Antonio Symphony, has named onetime local city council member and architect Roberto Treviño as its first ever executive director. He will move from his position on the Philharmonic board of directors to the administrative post. The orchestra describes him as a creative problem solver with a commitment to the arts, borne out in his former chairmanship of the City Council Arts and Culture Committee. The orchestra plans two performances each of ten programs in its first full, 2023-24 season.

Jennifer Ritvo Hughes exits as executive director of the Boston Baroque for the last four years to become CEO of the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic, a key fund-raising post for the Israeli orchestra of the same name. She succeeds Danielle Ames Spivak, in the job for 12 years. At Boston Baroque, Hughes was responsible for managing education, strategic planning, finances, operations and development. Previously she was executive director of the Boston-based Cantata Singers for over six years and, before that, director of publicity and coordination for the arts at Wellesley College, a position from which she ran the school’s concert series. She holds a BA from Wellesley and a BM from Brandeis University.

The Greeley (CO) Philharmonic Orchestra has moved Ben Barnhart, its acting executive director since February, to the position permanently. He succeeds Nick Kenney, who left in January for a job in financial planning. The GPO is a fully professional regional ensemble, said to be in business for over a century. Barnhart is a fund-raising executive and has worked with the county humane society, Iowa State University, the University of Northern Colorado, and the American Red Cross.

As of October 1, 2023, Philip Setzer, violinist in the soon-to-retire Emerson String Quartet, takes the post of The Manchester (VT) Music Festival’s artistic director, with pianist Jenny Lin taking over from Betsy Bleakie as executive director. In addition to his work with the Emerson, Setzer is the Distinguished Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at SUNY Stony Brook and Visiting Faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music. The festival he is about to take over boasts a teaching element at its core. Jenny Lin is a Steinway artist with some 50 recordings to her credit. She is on the faculty of the Mannes School at the New School.

The Los Angeles Children’s Chorus has brought Kurt J. Swanson on board as interim executive director. Swanson, over the last 30 years, has served on the business side of the Skylight Comic Opera, DanceCircus, and the Steppenwolf Theater, among others. Lately he has taken a particular interest in interim work, serving as interim general manager of The Broad Stage in Santa Monica and interim COO of The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, where he led the senior staff during a time of transition to a new CEO.

The Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra (SYSO) has named Andrew Krus as its next executive director, effective in August. Krus is a former SYSO board member whose experience includes 17 years as director of performing and visual arts at the Lakeside School in Seattle. His tenure there included capital campaigns for the renovation of two theaters and the launch of an orchestral education program. Krus succeeds Kathleen Allen, who left last fall after 12 years with the organization. SYSO is not affiliated with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.

Sarah Curran, an arts consultant who has been acting as executive director of the University of Chicago’s presenting series, has moved into the position permanently. She succeeds Amy Iwano, who exited UChicago Presents (UCP) in 2021 to become executive and artistic director of Performance Santa Fe. Curran is identified as having broad experience across all the performing arts, the visual arts, and film. She is the former director of the Center for the Arts at Wesleyan University, where she simultaneously served as managing director of the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance (ICPP. For the eight previous years, Curran was with Stanford Arts as the director of programming and partnerships.

Jessica Zweig will succeed Co-founder Stanford Thompson as executive director of Play on Philly (POP), which brings music instruction to thousands of Philadelphia school children. She has been with the 13-year-old organization since 2016 and has played a key role in bringing the El Sistema-based program into the national limelight. She starts July 17.

Ravinia Steans Music Institute (RSMI), now in its 35th year as the educational arm of the famed summer festival, has appointed Midori to be artistic director of its piano and strings program, which runs June 23-July 24, 2024. She succeeds Miriam Fried, currently in her final season after having started in the job in 1994. Midori will oversee coaching and visiting faculty for a program geared to practice and performance by ensembles comprised of young string players and pianists. Part of her remit is recruitment.

The Florida Orchestra (TFO), which prides itself on being the largest orchestra in the state, has named the Spanish industrialist-cum-orchestra manager Ignacio Barrón Viela as its next CEO. Barrón Viela has been CEO of the Reno (NV) Philharmonic for the last nine months. Previously he served in the same capacity at the Billings (MT) Philharmonic, annual budget $2 million, for four years. TFO reports that he “doubled the symphony’s net worth and endowment” while there.

SFJAZZ has appointed Terence Blanchard to the newly created position of executive artistic director. The seven-time Grammy Winner and two-time Academy Award Nominee will oversee the organization’s artistic programming and creative direction, expand its digital platform, and further develop community engagement and educational offerings. A renowned composer, bandleader, and trumpet player, Blanchard has been a genre-stretching artist for more than 40 years whose work includes not only performing but writing film scores, crafting television series soundscapes, and, lately, conceiving grand operas. He has also taught at, among others, the Berklee Institute of Music, The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, and is Chair of Jazz Studies at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.

The Los Angeles–based experimental opera producer The Industry has selected Tim Griffin as its next executive director. He succeeds Cordelia Istel, who has served in an interim capacity. A former editor-in-chief of Artforum and onetime director of the Kitchen, Griffin was most recently a visiting professor in the art history and English departments at Ohio State University in Columbus. He remains a contributing editor of Artforum.

Michelle Williams, head of casting for the English National Opera since 2016, is to be the new director of artistic administration for the Garsington Opera as of next September. She succeeds Laura Canning, the new general director and CEO of Opera North. Williams, who studied singing at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, was previously with the Scottish Opera, most recently as head of casting. In comments, Artistic Director Douglas Boyd noted her “broad experience and skills” as essential in casting and developing young artists.

The Apollo, the iconic Harlem performing arts center dedicated to Black arts and culture, has tapped Michelle Ebanks as its next president and CEO. Recently in the same position with Essence Communications, she succeeds Jonelle Procope, whose tenure of more than two decades proved transformative for the 109-year-old institution. Ebanks brings to her new position an impressive record of achievement in print and electronic media. Beginning her career as corporate business manager for Condé Nast’s 13 titles, she then joined Time Inc., initially as the general manager and financial director for Money magazine. As vice president in Time Inc.’s corporate division, she led the acquisition of Essence and then assumed the position of CEO of Essence Communications.

Scott Guzielek has been named to lead The Academy of Vocal Arts; he has been the organization’s VP and general manager since 2019. He starts July 1, precisely four years after he first arrived from the Palm Beach Opera, where he was artistic director. Guzielek is credited with helping to guide AVA students through Covid-19 and increasing contributed and earned income. He holds a BA in vocal performance from the State University of New York College at Geneseo and an MA in arts management from American University.

Riley Nicholson will be the next executive director of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. Nicholson is the current executive director of the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas (SoNA). Accomplishments during Nicholson’s three years at SoNA include forming a strategic plan, prioritizing DEI and community in-reach efforts, and increasing educational activity. Nicholson holds a master’s degree in composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and BA degrees in psychology and percussion from the University of Memphis.

Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music has hired Jonathan Bailey Holland as dean, starting in September and succeeding Toni-Marie Montgomery, who exits at summer’s end after 20 years in the job. Holland is the current head of the Carnegie Mellon University School of Music, a job he has held for less than one year. Holland’s works have been performed by the Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, and National symphonies, as well as contemporary ensembles such as Eighth Blackbird and Roomful of Teeth. Holland holds a Ph.D. in music from Harvard University and a BM from the Curtis Institute of Music, where his teachers included Ned Rorem, a Bienen alumnus. He is a native of Flint, MI.

The College of Fine Arts at The University of Texas at Austin has named Cuban and Latin American music scholar and administrator Susan Thomas as director of the Butler School of Music, effective July 1. Thomas joins the Butler School from the University of Colorado Boulder. She will hold the Florence Thelma Hall Centennial Chair in Music. Thomas received significant grant funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission for which she is leading research projects related to the music cultures of southern Colorado and photoplay music for silent film. While directing the AMRC, she also founded the journal, Americas: A Hemispheric Music Journal, for which she serves as editor-in-chief. Prior to coming to Boulder in 2018, she held a joint appointment in the Hugh Hodgson School of Music and the Institute for Women’s Studies at the University of Georgia.

Sebastian Nordmann, director of the Konzerthaus and Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin, is to be the next executive and artistic director of the Lucerne Festival, succeeding Michael Haefliger, who last fall said he would step down after 26 years at the end of 2025. Nordman, 52, starts on January 1, 2026, and will relocate to Lucerne. Nordmann has been with the Konzerthaus since 2009; previously he was artistic and executive director of the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and served as a consultant with the Boston Group in Berlin. In 2008 he is was appointed professor of Cultural Management at the Rostock University of Music and Theatre; he holds degrees in musicology and modern history gained in Heidelberg and Berlin.

The American Pianists Association (APA) has hired Chris Williams, executive VP of Concert Artists Guild of five years, to be its next CEO. He starts in July, relocating to Indianapolis and succeeding Peter Mraz, who resigned in July 2022; Joanne Bennett, who has been serving as interim, will return to her post as general manager. Prior to his appointment at CAG, Williams, 38, was for two years with Judson Management Group as vice president; before that he was with Frank Solomon Associates for six years as an artist manager. He holds an MM in viola from Yale, and a BM in viola from the University of North Texas.

Los Angeles Philharmonic has named its COO Daniel Song as interim CEO, effective immediately. The current CEO, Chad Smith, is to take that position with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and so will now move in LA to an advisement position. Song was previously LA Phil’s VP of Philharmonic and production for four years. Before that he was VP and general manager at the Aspen Music Festival and before that was with the LA Phil for eight years in development and artistic planning. He holds a BM from the University of Miami.

The Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, a broad musical education program that has impacted thousands of students across Southern California since its 1986 founding, has named Fred Meads to be its new associate artistic director. Meads, music director of the Princeton Boychoir, education director for the Westrick Music Academy, both in New Jersey, will conduct LACC’s Preparatory Choir and Intermediate Choir—two of the organization’s progressively advanced seven ensembles—and oversee LACC's musicianship program. Meads will start on August 1, succeeding the retiring Mandy Brigham.

The American Youth Symphony (AYS) has appointed one of its former musicians to be its next executive director. She is Isabel Thiroux, who moved from the AYS viola section in 2007 to become an administrative assistant and then gradually worked her way up the ladder. She most recently had been serving as interim executive director, in the wake of Tara Aesquivel’s departure last June. In comments, Music Director Carlos Izcaray called her “an absolute pleasure to work with.” AYS was founded in 1964 by conductor Mehli Mehta.

Chad Smith, chief executive of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, is to be the next CEO of the Boston Symphony Orchestra; he will succeed his former colleague, Gail Samuel. Save for a brief stint with the New York Philharmonic, in 2006, Smith has been with the LA Phil since 2002 and in the top job for the last four years. As such, he has overseen an annual budget in excess of $150 million, including the Philharmonic, the Hollywood Bowl, Disney Hall, et. al. The BSO’s is in the neighborhood of $110 million, including Tanglewood.

Lawrence (Larry) Edelson, founding artistic and general director of the American Lyric Theater (ALT), has been announced as the new general director of the Chicago Opera Theater as of July 1. He will now run both organizations. In Chicago, Edelson succeeds Ashley Magnus, who announced her departure earlier this year; he arrives as COT prepares to launch its 50th-anniversary season. Meaghan Stainback Smallwood has served as interim general director; she will return to her previous position as COT’s director of development on September 1.

Courtney Beck, executive director of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale, is to move to the same position with Alonzo King LINES Ballet, also based in the Bay Area. She takes the post held since 2019 by company co-founder (with King) and Creative Director Robert Rosenwasser, who will now focus more on creative matters. Rosenwasser had taken over on an interim basis from Karim Eric Baer, who left in 2017. Beck’s long tenure at PBO saw an increase in budget, programming, and audience reach. Prior to serving as the organization’s top executive, she oversaw its fundraising.

Toronto early music enterprise Tafelmusik has appointed Glenn Hodgins , current president and CEO of the Canadian Music Center, as its next executive director, as of June 21. Hodgins, who started his career over three decades ago as Tafelmusik’s touring and operations director, succeeds Carol Kehoe, who exited last June after four years in the job. Hodgins’s nine years at the CMC have led to major advances in fund raising, streaming, publishing, recording, and diversity work. "I am thrilled to return to Tafelmusik, where my career in arts administration began,” he said, noting the uniqueness of being a new leader of an organization “along with [having] a deep understanding of its past.”

Washington National Opera has made some staffing adjustments in artistic planning and production. Samuel Gelber has been promoted from director of artistic planning, a post he assumed in 2018 after working in the same capacity with the Los Angeles Opera, to director of artistic planning and operations. New to the company will be Chelsea Antrim Dennis, who arrives in August as director a production, a job she previously held with the Santa Fe Opera. The two are essentially dividing up the responsibilities previously overseen by Paul Horpedahl, a seasoned consultant in the area. Horpedahl has held the title of “temporary” director of artistic and production operations at WNO since last fall.

Ben Hartley, CEO and founder of Orama Consulting, whose clientele include “Fortune 500 and not-for-profit clients in luxury, media, lifestyle, and culture industries," is to be the new executive director of Silkroad. He succeeds Kathy Fletcher, who served for three years in the job and has remained involved in a consulting capacity. Hartley’s most recent position was executive director of Manhattan's 125-year-old National Arts Club, where he is credited with a new strategic plan, renovating the building, and creating arts programming “with a stronger focus on diversity and inclusiveness.”

The York Symphony Orchestra (PA) has named Anthony Wise as its new executive director, effective May 7. As the ensemble’s operations and personnel manager since 2021, Wise succeeds Michael Reichman, now the VP of artistic operations and general manager of the Charlotte (NC) Symphony Orchestra. Wise will be partnering with Lawrence Golan, the orchestra’s music director, to lead the 90-year-old ensemble of professional musicians that offers about ten classical and pops concerts annually on a budget of $1.1 million.

Keith Elder is to become the new president and CEO of the Grand Rapids Symphony as of July 1, 2023. He succeeds Mary Tuuk Kuras, who retired in December 2022; Chuck Frayer has been serving as interim. Elder joins the Grand Rapids ensemble from Oklahoma, where he has been the top man at the Tulsa Symphony for four years. Previous postings include senior management positions at the Aspen Music Festival and School, Eastman School of Music, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops, and directing jazz and popular music concerts at Tanglewood Music Center.

Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra (CYSO), which serves some 10,000 young musicians annually, both at its own facilities and in schools, has named a new executive director in Jennie Oh Brown. She succeeds Susan Lappe, who left in November after five years in the job to become VP of development for the Harris Theatre for Music and Dance. Brown most recently was artistic director with Epiphany Center for the Arts, a landmark venue for which she produced both concerts and educational programs. Before that she was executive and artistic director of Ear Taxi Festival in 2021; founder, director, and faculty member of Credo Flute; and taught at Wheaton College and Elmhurst University. She is on the board of Chamber Music of America.

Jenny Mollica will assume the post of interim chief executive of the English National Opera (ENO) next September, succeeding Stuart Murphy, who announced plans to leave last fall. Director of strategy and engagement since 2020, Mollica has been leading the company’s transition and business planning in response to Arts Council England’s mandate that it establish a primary locus of activity outside London, developing new digital programs and strategic partnerships that last year increased and enhanced the engagement with communities throughout the U.K.

John Kieser, longtime executive VP and provost for the New World Symphony, current director of partnerships for Idagio, will relocate en famille from Germany to Calgary to become president and CEO of Honens, a triennial piano competition and summer festival. He arrives in July, succeeding Neil Edwards, now CEO of Peggy’s Cove for Arts and Culture in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Marketing and Communications Director Amanda Smith has been serving as interim since November. Pianist Jon Kimura Parker remains artistic director.

Piper Gunnarson, executive director of On Site Opera since 2017, has been promoted to the post of general director and CEO, effective May 1. She moves into the top administrative position, soon to be vacated by co-founder and Artistic Director Eric Einhorn. He'll remain with the company through 2023, with the search for a new artistic director underway. Gunnarson is credited with increasing the staff to seven and more than doubling the budget. Board size and character has also grown, with DEI a particular priority. In comments, Einhorn noted her “vision, leadership, and dedication to our mission.”

The Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) has appointed stage director J.J. Hudson as interim artistic director of its Opera Theater. He will start next fall, stepping in for Dean Southern, now the school’s dean and VP of academic and student affairs. Hudson comes to Cleveland from Georgia State University in Atlanta, where he has been Professor of Practice in Opera since fall 2021. Before that, he served as a guest director with a number of professional and conservatory opera companies. He recently staged Dialogues of the Carmelites at CIM.

Stanford Thompson, founder and former executive director of Philly Pops, is to be the first executive director of Equity Arc, a new membership organization formerly known as the National Instrumentalist Mentoring & Advancement Network (NIMAN), which self-defines as “a national coalition that works to align, promote, and develop equitable opportunities for musicians of color.” NIMAN had its first convention last month in Cincinnati.

Laura Canning, director of artistic administration at Garsington Opera, is to be the new general director and CEO of Opera North, succeeding Richard Mantle, who is retiring after 29 years in the job. Canning has been with Garsington—a two-month summer festival on the Wormsley Estate in Buckinghamshire, U.K.—for ten years. Previously, she was artistic administrator at Welsh National Opera until 2008, and with the Houston Grand Opera as director of the Opera Studio young artist training program.

The Saint Louis Symphony has hired Paul Pietrowski as its new COO, effective 10 April 2023; Pietrowski most recently was orchestra, production, and operations manager of the Cincinnati Symphony for six years. He held a similar position with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, and before that taught music in Virginia and North Carolina. He holds an MM in trombone performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

The Pacific Opera Project (POP) has a new executive director in Katherine Powers, founding director of vocal arts at California School of the Arts. She is also a vocal coach and singer who has performed with POP in the past. She’ll oversee all administrative aspects, working alongside founder and Artistic Director Josh Shaw. “I’ve been performing with POP since its second season and have watched them grow from an irreverent start-up to a genuine culture-maker in Los Angeles,” Katherine said, citing the company’s “unique mix of ransacked classics, rediscovered gems, and provocative new works,” as well as its educational programs."

Brad Cohen, a native of Sydney, is to be the next general director of the New Zealand Opera (NZO). The former artistic director of the West Australian Opera, he is an active guest conductor of opera and symphonic repertoire, as well as a music editor and publisher. In New Zealand, he succeeds Thomas de Mallet Burgess, in the job for five years before being named artistic director of opera at the Finnish National Opera and Ballet as of August 2023.

Alessio Vlad has added the Regio Theater of Parma to his long list of artistic directorships. Effective immediately, he will hold the post for the next three years, working with the new house Superintendent Luciano Messi. Vlad has been artistic director of the Rome Opera (2010 to 2022), the Ravello Festival (2020), Donizetti Theater of Bergamo (1999), Carlo Felice Theater in Genoa (1999 to 2001), Theater of the Muses of Ancona (2004 to 2014), San Carlo Theater in Naples (2006 to 2007). He served as a consultant to the Spoleto Festival of the Two Worlds (2008 to 2020) and to the Royal Opera House of Oman (2011) and is the current artistic director of the Marche Opera Network.

Emma Stenning is to be the new chief executive of The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) as of April 3, 2023. She succeeds Stephen Maddock, who leaves after almost 24 years to become principal at the Royal Birmingham Conservatory. Her arrival coincides with that of Kazuki Yamada, the CBSO’s new chief conductor and artistic advisor. Her most recent post has been as executive director of Toronto’s Soulpepper Theater. Her impressive credentials also include roles as chief executive of Bristol Old Vic, executive director of Battersea Arts Center, head of theater at Arts Council England, and cultural program advisor for the London Organizing Committee for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Henry Filloux-Bennett has been announced of the new executive director of Opera North, effective in May. He succeeds David Collins, in the role since October of 2021. Filloux-Bennett Henry is the current executive director and deputy CEO of HOME arts center in Manchester. Among his other past administrative jobs, he served as a producer and general manager for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Theatre Royal Haymarket. Filloux-Bennett is an author and playwright whose credits include What a Carve Up!, chosen as one of the Guardian’s Top 10 theater shows in 2020. A year later he adapted Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, which has been subsequently viewed in over 70 countries.

Camerata Zürich has announced violinist Esther Hoppe as its next artistic director, succeeding Igor Karsko, as of the 2025-26 season. A soloist, chamber musician, and professor of violin at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, the Swiss violinist is the former first concertmaster of the Munich Chamber Orchestra and prize winner of the International Mozart Competition in Salzburg. With the Tecchler Trio, she has won the German Music Competition, the Prix Credit Suisse, and first prize at the ARD competition in Munich.

Seattle Opera has announced two new appointments starting this month. Marissa Betz-Zall becomes the company’s new chief financial officer (CFO), with Angela Gist as chief operations officer (COO). The new appointees take over from Jane Repensek, who had served as both COO and CFO since 2017. Betz-Zall started work with Seattle Opera in 2013 as a senior accountant and later as a controller. As associate director of finance from 2019 to 2021, she helped steer the company through the pandemic, securing over $11 million in relief funding. In 2021, she left the company to work as CFO client consultant for the remote finance platform RADAR Nonprofit Solutions, where she oversaw the onboarding of multiple new organizations, including Seattle Opera. Returning now as CFO, she will oversee a $25 million budget and be responsible for new funding strategies and ensuring the company’s financial health. Angela Gist joined Seattle Opera in 2021 as director of human resources. As one of the company’s COVID site monitors, over the last two years she was part of a response team that ensured that a not a single performance was cancelled as a result of COVID. Before joining Seattle Opera, she was artistic director of Vashon Center for the Arts and managing director of Freehold Theatre. As COO, she will work with the board to chart the company’s future and oversee the company’s facilities, IT, and HR departments.

Robert van Leer, most recently VP of artistic planning at the Kennedy Center, is to be the new executive director and CEO of California’s Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performng Arts as of April 1. He succeeds Rachel Fine, who left in August and is now heading up the Yale Schwarzman Center. Van Leer’s accomplishments at the Kennedy Center, where he oversaw a $90 million budget, include the launch in 2019 of REACH, the indoor/outdoor space geared to community and new-artist interaction, and the introduction of hip hop and social impact programming.

The Colorado Symphony Orchestra (CSO), which celebrates its centennial during the 2023-24 season, has announced that as of May 8, Mark Cantrell will be the ensemble’s new chief executive officer. He succeeds Jerome H. Kern, who retired as CEO and board chairman in September of 2021. For the past 18 months, Coreen Miller, the CSO’s chief financial officer and chief operating officer, has served in an interim capacity. Cantrell is coming to Colorado from the Florida Orchestra, where he has been president and CEO. He had previously headed up the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. Earlier positions included administrative jobs with several Boston music organizations, teaching positions at Boston University and the University of Massachusetts, and performing as a bass trombonist.

Julie Kent, artistic director of the Washington Ballet since 2016, will join the Houston Ballet as its first-ever co-artistic director next July, sharing the pivotal role with the current Stanton Welch. A 30-year member of the American Ballet Theater, and as such the longest serving ballerina in ABT’s history, Kent, 53, has danced in more than 100 ballets by some of the most noted choreographers in history. In Washington, she is credited with 27 commissions and with bringing not only new but modern classics to the repertoire.

Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival (CCCMF), founded in 1979 by pianist Samuel Sanders, announced the appointment of Ray Salva as its new executive director. A seasoned non-profit professional and year-round resident of Osterville, he assumes the position from long-time Executive Director Elaine Lipton, who has been serving most recently in an emeritus role. With more than 20 years of experience working in the performing arts, museum, and social advocacy sectors, Salva has held leadership roles with organizations ranging from Boston’s Handel & Haydn Society to New York City’s American Museum of Natural History. Prior to joining the Festival, he served as the sole development officer for Cape Cod’s largest arts organization, Cape Symphony.

The Guthrie Theater (Guthrie) has selected Tracy Brigden as senior artistic producer, following an executive search process led by Arts Consulting Group (ACG). She began her tenure on October 31, 2022. Brigden arrived at the Guthrie having accumulated over 20 years of experience as a dynamic artistic leader and artist in Broadway, off-Broadway, and regional theaters. Previously, Brigden served as artistic director at City Theatre Company. During her 16-year tenure, she developed and expanded upon the theatrical offerings and programs that have elevated the company to its respected place as a major incubator for innovative plays and musicals.

MacDowell, one of the oldest artist residency programs in the U.S., has tapped Chiwoniso Kaitano as its new executive director, the organization announced Friday. Kaitano joins MacDowell with a mandate to “intensify outreach to traditionally underrepresented artistic voices,” among other charges, a release said. Kaitano is the former executive director of Girl Be Heard, a nongovernmental organization that uses theater and the performing arts to advocate for social change. Originally from Zimbabwe, she also serves on the boards of several arts organizations.

Finnish violist Lilli Maijala, head of the viola faculty at her alma mater the Sibelius Academy, has added the Zurich University of the Arts to her CV, where she will start in fall as professor of viola. Maijala is a specialist in contemporary repertoire and performs in an experimental-quartet lab with violinists Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Pekka Kuusisto, and cellist Pieter Wispelwey. She is also a member of the Valo Quartet.

Flutist/composer Valerie Coleman will join the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music (MSM) next fall; she will teach flute, composition, and chamber music.

Violist Lech Antonio Uszynsk arrives on the faculty of The Royal Conservatoire The Hague next September. A member of the Stradivari Quartet since 2010 and an international soloist, he has a recordings catalog that includes Steve Reich’s quartets Different Trains and Triple Quartet for Warner Classics, chamber music versions of Mahler Symphonies Nos. 1 and 4, and a solo album, Progetto Gibson, for Sony Classical.

The University of Arkansas’ Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences has appointed bassoonist Lia Uribe as chair of its department of music, which offers a BM degree in vocal and instrumental performance as well as conducting, composing, music education, music history, and jazz.

Opéra de Lausanne has appointed Claude Cortese, current artistic director at Opéra national du Rhin in Strasbourg, to be its next director as of July 1, 2024. He succeeds Eric Vigié, who will have been in the job 20 years. A musician by training, Cortese, 51, first came to Opéra de Lausanne at age 19, as a stage manager. Later he was production manager at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. Before his current, Strasbourg job, Cortese was artistic director of the Opéra national de Lorraine in Nancy, and before that Angers Nantes Opéra.

Paolo Petrocelli resigned after three years as founding director general of the Stauffer Academy in Cremona to become the new head of the Dubai Opera House, a multi-genre presenter. He started the job in the United Arab Emirates in February. Petrocelli is former associate director at MG Artists and Advisor for International Development and Special Projects at Royal Opera House Muscat in Oman. He has also served as assistant to the superintendent for international development and external relations of Fondazione Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and Director of International Projects at Oregon Music Festival.

The Robert McDuffie Center for Strings in Mercer University’s Townsend School of Music in Macon, GA, is welcoming back two cellists as new members of its faculty. Next autumn, Sihao He, who received an undergraduate degree from the Center in 2015 before continuing his studies at Northwestern’s Bienen School of Music, will join the faculty as distinguished artist and lead cello teacher. Joining Sihao on the faculty will be his mentor, Hans Jørgen Jensen. “I am coming back because I really love the Center, but also because I want to support Sihao He,” Jensen said. “Sihao and I have worked together for many years…. [He] is an incredible cellist and teacher.”

Alexander Brose has been selected to succeed Peter Simon as president & CEO of Canada’s Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) in August of 2024. As of next fall, he’ll serve as president designate until with Simon retires at the end of the school year. Brose was the inaugural executive director and CEO of the Tianjin Juilliard School until the end of the last school year. His skills as a Mandarin speaker, student of Asian studies, and onetime professional vocalist helped him establish a footprint for Juilliard in China. Prior to his five-year term there he was VP for development at the Aspen Music Festival and School in Colorado and, before that, a senior manager at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Oregon Ballet Theater, approaching its 35th anniversary and including a school with an enrollment of over 300, has named choreographer Danielle (Dani) Rowe as its next artistic director, effective presently. She succeeds Peter Franc, who has been serving as interim since 2021. The company also has a new executive director in Shane Jewell, who came on board in January after serving as general manager of the New York City-based Gibney Company, a contemporary ensemble.

Flutist Tara Helen O’Connor, a highly credentialled performer and pedagogue, has been appointed visiting associate professor, adjunct, at the Yale School of Music, effective next fall. A contemporary music champion, she has premiered hundreds of works, is a member of the Windscape woodwind quintet and the Bach Aria Group, and has played as a substitute in the New York Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

Violist Paul Laraia, a member of the Catalyst Quartet and artist-in-residence of Chamber Music Northwest, has joined the faculty as an associate professor at the Boston Conservatory of Music at Berklee. Laraia is a first-prize winner of the 2019 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and the 2011 Sphinx Competition and has performed as a soloist with a number of U.S. orchestras.

South Korean pianist HieYon Choi has joined the Peabody Conservatory faculty, arriving from her tenured position as chair of the piano department at Seoul National University. Known for her two complete cycles of Beethoven sonatas, performed internationally, plus a cycle of his complete chamber works with piano, she has recorded works by Liszt, Debussy, Beethoven, and Chopin, and given lectures and master classes Stateside and in Europe.

German soprano Juliane Banse is to succeed Susan Bullock as head professor of the “Alfredo Kraus” Fundación Ramón Areces Voice Chair at Madrid’s Reina Sofia School of Music as of the 2023-2024 academic year. With an unusually wide range of repertoire, from the Marschallin to Donna Elvira, Banse comes to Madrid after several years teaching at the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf and the University Mozarteum Salzburg.

Last fall, tubist Aaron Tindall joined the brass faculty of the Colburn School. He is particularly active in the state of Florida, serving as principal tubist of the Naples Philharmonic, Sarasota Orchestra, and associate professor of tuba and euphonium at the Frost School of Music, University of Miami.

Theater and opera director Mary Birnbaum is to be the new general and artistic director of Opera Saratoga, whose origins date back some 60 years (it was previously known as Lake George Opera). She succeeds Larry Edelson, who announced in May that he would be exiting at the close of last summer’s season. Birnbaum teaches acting for singers at the Juilliard School, serving as dramatic advisor to the MM and diploma programs at the Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts. She will continue her work there as she adds Opera Saratoga to her portfolio.

Aviel Cahn, general director of the Grand Théâtre de Genève, has been named intendant of Deutsche Oper Berlin as of August, 2026. He succeeds Dietmar Schwarz, whose contract expires one year prior. Cahn, VP of Opera Europa for three years, up until last June, has been with Geneva since 2019. Prior to that he was for ten years intendant of Belgium Opera Ballet Vlaanderen; he’s also served as managing director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, director of opera for Stadttheater Bern, and held positions with the Finnish National Opera and the China National Symphony Orchestra. He holds a doctor of law from Zurich University.

Clare Fox Hillard, music director and conductor of the Albany (GA) Symphony Orchestra, is the new president of the International Conductors Guild. Elected for a two-year term during the ICG’s recent three-day conference in Valencia, Spain, he succeeds Julius P. Williams. Hillard, a native of Grand Rapids, MI, made his podium debut at 18 and went on to earn masters and doctoral degrees from the University of Iowa. He received additional training from notable conductors such as Leonard Slatkin, Pierre Boulez, Maurice Abravanel, and Jorge Mester.

Olivier Py is to be the new artistic director of Paris’s Théâtre du Châtelet. Py, former director of the Avignon Festival, is something of a cultural hero, and news of his appointment had been deemed "a sure promise of audacity, joy, surprises and impertinence," by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo. In addition to heading the Festival d’Avignon from 2014 to 2022, Py is a playwright, director of opera and plays, author, actor, and singer. Quite understandably, Châtelet Board Chair Xavier Couture called him a “major figure in the performing arts.”

The Washington Chorus has announced that Anthony Salvi-Exner its new executive director. He previously sang with The Washington Chorus and was a board member before his appointment as interim executive director in August 2022. He brings 30 years of executive leadership experience working in a variety of organizations, having held several CEO positions, including most recently at VMD Corp, a professional services company.

Arts Consulting Group (ACG announced that Heran Sereke-Brhan, Ph.D. has joined the firm as vice president, practice leader to support the Strategic Planning & Community Engagement service area. Based in ACG’s Washington, DC, location, Sereke-Brhan brings to the firm vast expertise in change management, community development, strategic visioning, and grant-making programs within the arts and culture and government sectors.

Pratt Fine Arts Center has selected Jessica Borusky as executive director, following an executive search process led by Arts Consulting Group (ACG). They began their tenure on January 13, 2023. Borusky arrives to the visual arts organization as a cultural leader whose practice is grounded in community building and equitable, accessible art education.

An experienced leader in arts advocacy, operations, and education, Shannon Kelly joins the Virginia Symphony Orchestra as vice president of development and operations following her tenure as senior director of government affairs at the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts. In this role, Kelly delivered an increase in local, state, and federal public funding to support the Foundation’s programs, including the Institute for Early Learning through the Arts and Wolf Trap Opera.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra has named Ed Gazouleas as interim director of the Tanglewood Music Center. Gazouleas is the current provost of the Curtis Institute and was for 24 years a member of the BSO viola section. He was active in key roles such as chairing the orchestra’s artistic advisory committee, and serving on the search committee that chose Andris Nelsons as music director. He’s been on the TMC faculty for 18 seasons, as well as the faculties of a number of other conservatories, including Jacobs School of Music at IU, New England Conservatory, and, of course, the Curtis Institute, of which he is an alumnus.

The Pittsburgh Ballet Theater (PBT) has hired Adam McKinney, 46, as its new artistic director as of March 15. McKinney, currently an associate professor of dance at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, attended the Milwaukee Ballet School and Butler University before dancing with the Milwaukee Ballet for five years. He appeared as well in New York with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. He has also taught at the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater School.

Soprano Melody Moore is to be the new artistic administrator of the San Diego Opera, reporting to General Director David Bennett and succeeding not one but two individuals: Dominic Domingo, now a senior agent at Askonas Holt, and Jordanna Rose, current director of artistic operations for Opera Colorado. Moore will continue her singing career alongside her new post. At San Diego Opera, she will be working with Joan Foster, director of production and artistic administration.

Peter Kjome, who exited his post as president and CEO of the Baltimore Symphony a year ago, has been hired by the Phoenix Symphony for the same position, effective February 1. He succeeds Suzanne Wilson, in the job two years. Formerly in marketing and strategic planning at 3M, Kjome holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and is an alumnus of the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Sam Jackson will leave his current position as executive VP of Global Classics & Jazz at Universal Music Group to become the new controller of BBC Radio 3, a position from which he will oversee the network as well as the BBC Proms, which his new employer defines as “the world’s biggest classical music festival.” Prior to UMG, Jackson was for 15 years with Global, said to be Europe's largest radio company.

Opera Omaha has appointed Allison Swenson, development director at Santa Fe Opera, as its next general director. She succeeds Roger Weitz, who announced his intention to move on last May. Swenson, 37, has been with Santa Fe since 2013; at one time she was assistant to former General Director Charles MacKay, who gives her a tremendous vote of confidence in a recent article in the Omaha World Herald. Swenson was among 40 individuals who applied for the job. She starts in mid-February.

Juan José Escalante, executive director of the National Dance Institute (NDI), a noted arts-education program, is the new executive director of the Miami City Ballet as of February 6. He succeeds Tania Castroverde Moskalenko, who left in 2022 after four years in the job. He will work with Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez, overseeing all matters administrative with a focus on expanding the company, one of the country’s most prestigious, as well as its school. Also mentioned in his remit are “a digital transformation of the organization, both internally and on our stages,” as well increased community-engagement activity and touring.

KMFA Classical, an independent public classical radio station in Austin, TX, has appointed George Preston as its new CEO. Preston arrives after serving for the last three years as VP of radio and GM of WFMT, Chicago, a high-profile classical outlet for which he initially hosted and produced the internationally syndicated Lyric Opera of Chicago broadcasts. Also on his CV is host and music director at WNYC, New York City’s primary NPR station, a tenure at Boson’s WBUR, and an impressive opera career singing such roles as Papageno in The Magic Flute and leads in The Marriage of Figaro, Kiss Me Kate, and The Music Man.

The Royal Albert Hall has appointed James Ainscough as its new chief executive officer, effective in the late spring of 2023. He succeeds Craig Hassall, who stepped down on December 16, 2022 to become president and chief executive of Playhouse Square in Cleveland, OH. Dan Freeman, the Hall’s chief operating officer, will continue to act as Interim CEO until Ainscough arrives. The appointment reunites Ainscough with an institution he served from January 2008 to December 2017, first as director of finance and administration and then as chief operating officer. Since leaving RAH, he served as CEO of Help Musicians, a charity for both working and retired professional musicians of all genres.

Jean Davidson, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Master Chorale since 2015, is to succeed Gary Ginstling as executive director of the National Symphony Orchestra, effective April 1. At the 58-year-old Master Chorale, she grew the budget by 50 percent from 2015-2019; her fund-raising prowess came into view most recently when she secured the Chorale’s largest gift ever: $2.55 million in unrestricted funds from the Perenchio Foundation as part of a successful pandemic recovery effort.

Chris Lorway, executive and artistic director of Stanford Live, California University’s presenting series (200 performances/four venues), is to be the next president and CEO of the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, effective in April. He succeeds Janice Price, who announced in July 2019 that she would not be renewing her contract when it expires in March of 2023. Lorway, 49, is a native of Cape Breton, off Nova Scotia, and is a Canadian citizen. Prior to Stanford Live, he was for two years director of programming and marketing at The Corporation of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall—home to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

The New York City Ballet has hired Alexei Ratmansky as artist in residence—a new position for this company—beginning in August, just two months after he leaves ABT. With an initial contract of five years, he is committed to create at least one new work a year, with the first planned to make its debut during the winter portion of NYCB's 2023-24, 75th-anniversary season.

Atlanta Ballet has selected Juliana Han Witt as chief advancement officer, following an executive search process led by Arts Consulting Group (ACG). She began her tenure on June 26, 2022. Prior to joining Atlanta Ballet, Witt held senior roles in various renowned cultural institutions including The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Metropolitan Opera, and National Dance Institute.

The Charlotte Symphony Orchestra (CSO) has selected Michael Reichman as vice president of artistic operations and general manager, following an executive search process led by Arts Consulting Group (ACG). He began his tenure on January 9, 2023. Prior to joining the CSO, Reichman served as executive director for the York Symphony Orchestra (YSO) in York, PA.

Arts Consulting Group (ACG) announced that Hywel W. Sims has joined the firm as senior vice president to expand the Planning and Capacity Building area of the firm. Based in ACG’s New Orleans location, Sims brings 30 years of expertise in the U.S., U.K., and Australia in leading and building support for organizations, including during times of financial challenges, contractions, and growth, as well as in responding community needs in the arts and social service sectors.

Arts Access, an editorial partnership between KERA and The Dallas Morning News, has hired multimedia journalist Samantha Guzman as its editor.. Launched in October, the new community journalism effort has embraced the mission of providing “arts, music and culture coverage in North Texas through the lens of equity and access.” Guzman, daughter of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, grew up in Grand Prairie, TX, and received degrees in photojournalism and journalism from the University of North Texas. She has worked previously at KERA, the Dallas affiliate of NPR and PBS, as associate producer for a midday talk show, and is currently executive editor of a community journal specializing in visual storytelling at Austin PBS.

Brooklyn’s much-heralded new music venue National Sawdust has announced a new managing director in Ana De Archuleta, who has for the last year been director of artistic operations. In turn, Kim Chan, deputy director and head of external affairs, is now senior director, and senior producer Alexander Barnes steps up to director of artistic operations and artistic administrator.

The Charlotte Symphony, founded in 1932, now with 62 full-time professional musicians, has announced its new VP of artistic operations and general manager, reporting to President and CEO David Fisk. He is Michael Reichman, who has been serving as executive director of the York (PA) Symphony for seven years. Reichman holds an MM of music in conducting from the New England Conservatory and is a professional musician, having this past year played second flute for the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra’s transatlantic partnership with the Bayerische Philharmonie. He simultaneously served as Denver’s general manager.

City of London Sinfonia (CLS), now its 51st season, has a new CEO arriving in April 2023. She is Rowan Rutter, known primarily for her work as a theater producer and administrator. She arrives after serving as executive director and joint chief executive at HighTide, which specializes in mounting new work. She succeeds Elaine Baines, the orchestra’s COO who has been serving as interim.

Anastasia Tsioulcas, a staff cultural correspondent for NPR, joined The New York Times’s freelance classical music reviewing staff November 2022. She remains fulltime at NPR as well. Previously, Tsioulcas, originally from Boston, was editor of Sony Music Entertainment’s online magazine Ariama and a freelance journalist for a number of music outlets, including Billboard and Gramophone. She was on staff at BMG Music for four years, working in classical music, jazz, and world music. Tsioulcas holds a BA in Comparative Religion from Barnard College.

The Virginia Symphony Orchestra (VSO) has a new president and CEO in Andrea F. Warren, in the job since early December. She succeeds Karen M. Philion, who announced in April that she would be leaving after over a decade in the job. Warren, the first black woman to lead a professional American orchestra, arrives with significant experience in education administration. Her most recent position was executive director of the Governor’s School for the Arts in Norfolk, VA, which offers after-school programs in the performing and visual arts. She also served as principal of Norfolk's Plaza Middle School and assistant principal of Bayside High/Middle School.

Opera and music theater director Jo Davies is to be the new artistic director of Opera Australia, effective in November of 2023 and succeeding Lyndon Terracini, who was in the job 13 years before opting out of a contract renewal. He left prematurely in October. Davies, whose experience ranges from operas at Covent Garden to musicals at the Barbican, will relocate to Sydney in fall of 2023. The remit of Allan’s new hire is to focus on native talent and “reflect the Australian community and spirit.”

Violinist Curtis Stewart, also a composer and genre-bending improvisor, is to succeed composer Derek Bermel as artistic director of the American Composers Orchestra. A graduate of the Eastman School with a degree in mathematics, Stewart has a wide-ranging career, and is well-regarded among the new music intelligentsia. Performance activity ranges from glittery onstage miked appearances with orchestra to teaching chamber music at the Juilliard School and the Perlman Music Program to performing on the New York Philharmonic “Bandwagon” series.

Glenn Briffa has been installed as CFO of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, having served as interim since July, when he succeeded Karen Sturges. Briffa will oversee the financial, information technology, and office administration functions of the largest-budget orchestra in the United States, currently reported at $148 million. He arrives to the job after two years as a finance consultant to small and medium sizes businesses. Prior to that he was CFO of a number of New York City-based firms, including We’re Magnetic LLC, MediaLink, TBA Global, Bono’s (RED), and, from 2003-10, Viacom Music Group. Briffa lives in New Jersey and holds a BS in finance and economics from NYU and an MBA in finance from Pace University.

The League of American Orchestras has appointed Andrew Clark, recent director of finance for Philadelphia’s Big Brothers Big Sisters Independence, as VP, finance and administration. He succeeds Marc Martin, now with the Dance Theater of Harlem. Clark will oversee the League’s finances, human resources, and information technology.

Lee Bynum, VP of impact at Minnesota Opera for two years, is to be the chief of education for Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) as of February 1. The description of his role by LCPA is nonspecific, other than to say he “will build upon the organization’s storied history and re-imagine the role of education at Lincoln Center." In Minnesota, Bynum was in charge of community learning, education, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. Prior to that, he was at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation as associate director of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program, administering DEI grants to colleges and universities. Bynum holds graduate and undergraduate degrees in history and education from Columbia University and was his alma mater’s assistant director of the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race. He also spent a year as a visiting scholar at Caritas Francis Hsu College in Hong Kong.

Violinist and new-music champion Jennifer Koh is the new artistic director of the Kennedy Center’s Fortas Chamber Music Concerts. The appointment is effective immediately into spring of 2026, with her first fully programmed season in 2024-25. In welcoming her, KenCen President Deborah Rutter expressed confidence that Koh would build on Kalichstein’s legacy, while at the same time “push us forward in her artistic vision.”

Erik Finley, vice president and general manager of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra since 2017, is to move to the position of vice president of artistic planning for the Minnesota Orchestra, a post in which he’ll be leading the artistic and digital teams, working with Music Director Designate Thomas Søndergård. He starts January 30, 2023, reporting to President and CEO Michelle Miller Burns.

Fort Worth Opera announced that its new general director would be soprano Angela Turner Wilson, who will hold the additional title of artistic director. With stage credits including the New York City, D.C., and Portland opera companies, along with Fort Worth, Wilson, 51, is associate professor of professional practice in voice at Texas Christian University and chair of the vocal arts division. Wilson holds an MM in Vocal Performance from the New England Conservatory. She starts December 12.

Sheri Notaro has joined the Minnesota Orchestra as its first vice president of people and culture. Her charge—to provide “strategic direction and tactical support” for human resources and lead anti-racism initiatives. Although new to the orchestra world, Notaro is a seasoned pro when it comes to diversity work. She served the Institute of Social Research at the University of Michigan as senior leader and previously held positions in human resources and diversity and inclusion programs.

Sarah Caggiano, recent executive director of continuing and expanded education at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), has joined the New England Conservatory with a mandate to expand its Preparatory School (NEC Prep) offerings as well as its adult education, summer, and other non-degree-granting programs. The school cites part of her job as creating partnerships and operations on and off campus and expanding enrollment. She takes the title of executive director of expanded education.

As of this month, Graham Parker moves from being interim executive director of the Louisville Orchestra to the position of chief executive. The former president of Decca Records U.S. at Universal Music Group, in which capacity he connected with Teddy Abrams, the LO’s music director of nine years, Parker first joined the Kentucky outfit one year ago as interim. Parker has wasted no time in furthering Abrams’s goal of making the orchestra central to life in Louisville and beyond, first by implementing the Creators Corps program that brings composers to reside in town and create new work for their environs.

Awadagin Pratt joins the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as professor of piano in July and will accept students into his studio as of the fall. Currently professor of piano and artist-in-residence at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, Pratt is an acclaimed performer and onetime artistic director of the Cincinnati World Piano Competition, a post he now holds with the annual Art of the Piano festival.

The New England Conservatory (NEC) announced that alumnus Minsoo Sohn would be joining the piano faculty as of next fall. A highly accomplished performer, he recently proved his prowess as a teacher when South Korean pianist Yunchan Lim took first prize at the 2022 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, making him the youngest winner in the competition’s history. Minsoo Sohn, himself the top winner of 2006 Honens International Piano Competition, has been on the faculty at the Korean National University of Arts since 2015, prior to which he taught at Michigan State University.

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, the now nearly 40-year-old organization credited with creating the city’s 14-block “cultural district” as a means of socio-economic revitalization, has announced a new president and CEO, the first person of color to hold the post. She is Kendra Whitlock Ingram, who currently holds the same title at the Marcus Performing Arts Center in Milwaukee, WI. In Pittsburgh, she succeeds the retiring. J. Kevin McMahon and starts in February.

Arts Consulting Group (ACG) announced that Jeff Erbach has joined the firm as associate vice president to support executive search and leadership transitions, as well as the planning and capacity building areas of the firm. Based in ACG’s Calgary location, Erbach brings to the company more than 30 years of expertise in cultural diplomacy, change management, and arts education focused on inclusion, diversity, equity, and access.

The Johnstown( PA) Symphony has a new executive director in Erin Codey, in the job on an interim basis since July. Codey, who has taught visual and performing arts for the last ten years, holds an undergraduate degree in media production from Quinnipiac University and a master’s degree in art education. She will be working with Music Director James Blachly and succeeds Jessica Satava, now executive director of the Greenville (SC) Symphony.

The San Diego Master Chorale has appointed Jan Rogers as the first full-time executive director in its 61-year history. The 100-member group, of high-level volunteers and paid professionals, performs under Music Director John K. Russell. The new hire arrives after serving as a consultant for choruses since leaving the top executive post at the Phoenix (AZ) Chorale in 2021.

José Martinez, former director of the National Dance Company of Spain and Étoile dancer of the Ballet de l'Opéra de Paris, is to be the next director of the Paris Opera Ballet. He starts in December, succeeding Aurélie Dupont who left in July. Martinez joined the Ballet de the Paris Opera in 1988 before being named Étoile in 1997; he left in 2011 to run the Spanish company; after eight years in that job he turned to free-lance teaching and choreography. Apart from two of his ballets set to premiere in Bordeaux and Stockholm in 2023, he will now turn his efforts exclusively to the Paris Opera Ballet.

Baptiste Charroing, current director of production at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, has been appointed director general designate of the theater, set to succeed Michel Franck in 2025, now in his third term in the job. Carroing, a violist by training, has been with TCE since 2020, and served in various capacities beforehand, including artist management and recording.

Cristiano Sandri, director of programming for the Verdi Festival and the Teatro Regio di Parma, is to become artistic director of the Teatro Regio di Torino next January. He succeeds Sebastian F. Schwarz, who arrived in 2019. Sandri has been an artist manager and worked in casting for Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

Opera Europa has selected Karen Stone to become the new director of the Brussels-based service organization as of Jan 1, 2023. She succeeds Nicholas Payne, in the position for 19 years. Stone, who recently retired after 13 years as Intendantin at Theater Magdeburg, has previously been general director at The Dallas Opera, Generalintendantin at Oper Graz, and opera director at Oper Köln. She has also held various positions in theaters in Germany and the U.K. and enjoyed an international career as a stage director.

La Musica International Chamber Music Festival, in Sarasota, FL, has selected Wu Han as its new artistic director. She succeeds Bruno Giuranna, who co-founded the festival 37 years ago. In announcing the appointment, the festival’s board president, Bruce Lehman, noted: “We chose Wu Han because of the breadth of her reputation, her commitment to engaging younger musicians and audiences, and her sheer love of the chamber music canon.”

Ji Su Jung has joined the timpani and percussion faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music. She arrives at Curtis from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, where she will continue on the faculty as a lecturer. She graduated from Peabody and holds an MM from the Yale School of Music, where she studied under Robert van Sice, her new Curtis colleague.

New on the Eastman School of Music full-time faculty is saxophonist/composer Christine Jensen, as assistant professor of jazz and contemporary media. In the midst of a thriving international career as a soloist and composer, she is the founding artistic director and conductor of the Canadian National Jazz Orchestra, as well as the past artistic director of Orchestre National Jazz de Montreal.

The Penn State College of Arts and Architecture has hired double bassist Patricia Weitzel as assistant teaching professor. A member of the Columbus Symphony, she was previously lecturer of double bass at Columbus State and has served on the faculties of Augustana College, Central College, Grinnell College, St. Ambrose University, and Drake University.

Both the opera and ballet of the Finish National Opera are getting new artistic directors. Javier Torres López arrived at the National Ballet in that capacity on August 1, 2022, and Thomas de Mallet Burgess is slated to succeed Lilli Paasikivi (in the job since 2013) at the artistic helm of the National Opera in August of 2023. Both men report to General Director Gita Kadambi. Torres has been a noted free-lance choreographer and teacher for 30 years and danced with the company from 1991 to 2008. Burgess, general director at New Zealand Opera since 2018, enjoys an international reputation as an expert in performing arts training and education and places special importance on diversity and inclusion.

The Association of British Orchestras (ABO) has tapped Judith Webster as its new chief executive, beginning Nov. 14. She succeeds Mark Pemberton, who stepped down on Sept. 30 after 15 years in post. The ABO serves the U.K.’s professional orchestras, youth ensembles, and the wider classical music industry by offering advice, support, intelligence, and information to the industry.

Violinist Colin Jacobsen, co-founder of the Knights and Brooklyn Rider, is to succeed Anne-Marie McDermott as artistic director of the Santa Fe Pro Musica. Santa Fe Pro Musica, which specializes in the Baroque, presents orchestral and chamber concerts. Jacobsen begins his new role with at the Bach Festival in December. A graduate of the Juilliard School and the Royal Conservatory of the Hague, Jacobsen has performed internationally and participated in residencies at New York’s 92nd St. Y, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Hollywood Bowl.

Swallow Hill Music has selected Aengus Finnan as president and CEO following an executive search process led by Arts Consulting Group (ACG). He began his tenure on October 1, 2022. With a distinguished international career of more than 20 years in music and performing arts, Aengus Finnan most recently served as executive director at Folk Alliance International (FAI). During his tenure, Finnan doubled the institution’s annual budget, increased its global reach from 9 to 46 countries, and cultivated vital partnerships with several renowned organizations, including UNESCO, Recording Academy, International Rescue Committee, and Smithsonian.

Intermusica welcomed Isabella Gage in the newly created position of senior artist manager & manager to The King’s Singers. She joins Intermusica from IMG Artists, where she held the position of vice president in its Vocal Division, working with such artists as Alice Coote, John Chest, Clive Bayley and Sara Fulgoni.

French conductor Stéphane Denève will succeed Michael Tilson Thomas as artistic director of the New World Symphony as of the 2022-23 season. MTT, who cofounded NWS with Ted and Lin Arison 35 years ago, will stay connected to his ground-breaking project as its artistic director laureate. Denève, who has been guest conducting at NWS since 2006, is the current music director of the St. Louis Symphony and starts as principal guest conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic in 2023.

The Boston Lyric Opera has named Bradley Vernatter as its general director and CEO, following his two years acting as GD and artistic director. The latter position has been spun off, at Vernatter’s suggestion, to be a dedicated one reporting to Vernatter and working on artistic planning with Music Director David Angus. Vernatter, previously BLO’s COO, is credited with not only keeping things on track during the pandemic, but with developing new initiatives such as the streaming platform, operabox.tv, whose productions included an animated film of Philip Glass’s The Fall of the House of Usher, an adaptation of Ana Sokolovic’s Svadba, and the miniseries desert in.

Following his year-long stint as interim, Matthew Spivey has been named CEO of the San Francisco Symphony, an organization he joined in 2015 as director of artistic planning under now laureate Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas. He was made official today after a year guiding Esa-Pekka Salonen’s first full season as SFS music director. The orchestra’s accomplishments during Spivey’s interim tenure include the release of two digital projects led by Salonen: Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale, a collaboration with British director, designer, and video artist Netia Jones; and Ligeti: Paradigms, another collaboration merging the composer’s music with media artist Refik Anadol, Dolby Labs, and SFS “collaborative partner” Carol Reiley.

The Ulster Orchestra has appointed Auveen Sands as its first female chief executive. She will assume the position, which has been held by Richard Wigley for more than six years, in October. Sands joined the orchestra as head of finance and operations in January 2014, after a career of more than 15 years in corporate banking. She played a key role in keeping the ensemble afloat after severe public funding cuts threatened its continuation and has worked closely with Wigley on strategic issues.

Pianist William Ransom is to succeed Christopher Rex as artistic director of the Amelia Island (GA) Chamber Music Festival. Rex, who founded the event in 2001, died last March, having retired from the Atlanta Symphony in 2018 after 39 years as principal cello of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Amelia Island offers about a dozen events annually, in various venues. Running it will become one of Ransom’s many hats, which also include being founder and artistic director of the Emory Chamber Music Society in Atlanta, artistic director of the Highlands-Cashiers (NC) Chamber Music Festival, and Professor of Piano at Emory University. He and Rex were close Atlanta colleagues.

Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI), the Lenox, MA, summer program for young musicians ages 14 to 20 founded in 1954 that links the BU College of Fine Arts with Tanglewood and the BSO, has a new executive director in Nicole Wendl. Also a noted violinist, Wendl has served as program manager of Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival in Burlington, Vermont, and co-founder and -director of the Lumino Festival in Falls Village, Connecticut.

At the Oregon Symphony, Clement So has succeeded Charles Calmer as VP for programming. So arrives from the San Diego Symphony, where he was VP for artistic planning for five years. Before that he was artistic administrator of New York’s 92nd Street Y for over 10 years. In Oregon he’ll work with Music Director David Danzmayr, who succeeded Carlos Kalmar as music director last season. So will report to President and CEO Scott Showalter. Calmer has retired.

Unitey Kull has joined the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra as VP of marketing and audience experience; she succeeds David Nischwitz, who left earlier in the year for a similar position with Drury Hotels, also in St. Louis. Kull comes to the SLSO from a similar position at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (CAM) where she is credited with nearly doubling visitor-ship over the last ten years. Before that she was executive director of the Manhattan New Music Project, a nonprofit performing and arts-education organization. She holds an MBA from George Washington University.

The Boise Philharmonic, which prides itself on being Idaho’s oldest performing arts organization, has a new executive director in New Zealand native Tim Young. He arrives from a stint as a consultant, having stepped down last January as executive director of the Reno (NV) Philharmonic, a job he held for 19 years. The Reno Phil, where he is credited with expanding programming and financial resources, says it is the largest performing arts organization in the state.

Michael S. Rosenberg, recent managing director of McCarter Theater Center in Princeton (NJ), longtime managing director of La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, CA, is to be the new president and CEO of New York’s City Center. He succeeds Arlene Shuler, who announced her intention to retire last December, after nearly 20 years in the job.

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