Anna-Maria Helsing, a Finn who became the BBC Concert Orchestra's principal guest conductor in 2020, will step up to succeed the late Bramwell Tovey as chief conductor as of October 1, with an initial contract term of three years. - The Independent (UK)
Kahchun Wong, a 36-year-old native of Singapore who won the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition in 2018 and has since worked as chief conductor of the Nuremburg Symphony and the Japan Philharmonic, will succeed Mark Elder as of September 2024. - The Straits Times (Singapore)
Sydney cemented the idea that grandiose political and architectural ambitions — some would say hubris — can merit the expenditure of much larger sums than bean counters would countenance. Some of these facilities ultimately proved transformative for their cities and nations. - Bloomberg
But the progress with Black musicians is incremental at best. Why is this so difficult? Titus Underwood, the principal oboist at the Nashville Symphony, says, "We must reflect American culture. And American culture is nothing without Black musicians being at the center." - The New York Times
Composers rarely get to be as loved as they are honored. But Saariaho's "music has informed aspects of European, American and Asian music, and she is being well and properly eulogized. ... The adjective most commonly used to describe her music (and her) is luminous." - Los Angeles Times
He's stepping down at the Chicago Symphony, but only sort of - because who is stepping up? "Since his successor has not yet been named, he will be continuing as a kind of shadow music director next season, and possibly longer." - The New York Times
Some AI is OK, but not all AI. "'A work that contains no human authorship is not eligible in any category,' they said, under new 'Artificial Intelligence (AI) Protocols' released Friday." - Seattle Times (AP)
"Standing in the square waiting for this moment, spontaneous kazooing broke out. We kazooed to Rick Astley (Cursed). We kazooed to Pachelbel’s Canon (as a longsuffering wedding cellist, this healed something deep inside me). We kazooed to Billie Eilish." - The Guardian (UK)
"The number of nominees for those categories" — Best New Artist and Album, Song, and Record of the Year — "were suddenly expanded from eight to 10 in November of 2021. … After two years, it became clear that 10 nominees in those major categories was unwieldy, at the very least." - Variety
DiDonato: "I think there’s a lot of power in putting on a legitimate, high-level concert, but challenging the audience to take home something more from it. ... Isn’t ‘Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen’ lovely? It’s like, yeah, but, what do you do with it when you go home?" - Van
"The Met sold 66% of tickets during the season that ended Saturday, up from 61% during the 2021-22 season. Sales were lower than budgeted because of a cyberattack in mid-December. … The average age of its single-ticket buyers, which comprise 75% of sales, decreased to 44 from 50." - AP
Three protestors from the British group Just Stop Oil used air horns and glitter cannons to interrupt Thursday's performance of Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites at the Glyndebourne Festival. They were escorted away within one minute and the performance resumed after 20 minutes. - The Guardian
In a letter to Culture Minister Lord Parkinson, Mr Rotheram and Liverpool City Council leader Liam Robinson said it would be "an honour" to bring the English National Opera (ENO) to Liverpool, a city with "an unmatched musical heritage". - BBC
"Geoffrey Robson, who joined the orchestra in the fall of 2008 as associate conductor and a full-time member of the violin section, has been shepherding the orchestra through its interregnum since the departure of former music director and conductor Philip Mann at the end of the 2018-19 season." - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
