David Chan, concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera for 25 seasons—among many other endeavors—is to join the Shepherd School faculty full time next fall at Rice University. He will phase out, over the next two years, his current … » Read

Oslo-based string quartet Opus 13 [pictured] won the triennial Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition , announced April 6. In addition to the first prize of £10,000, it also won three special prizes from earlier rounds: … » Read

A new contract through the 2028-29 season for Music Director JoAnn Falletta will extend her tenure at the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra to three decades. When she as appointed to the post in 1999, she became the first woman to hold the title at … » Read

Avenue Greenlight, a nonprofit led by San Francisco crypto billionaire Chris Larsen, has stepped in to help underwrite the Fillmore Jazz Festival just days after organizers announced its cancellation. Established in 2021 to help San … » Read

Madeleine Venner is to be the new chorus director for the London Philharmonic Choir as of the 2025-26 season. She succeeds Neville Creed, who retires after 30 years to become chorus director emeritus at the end of the current season. Calling his … » Read

In unveiling its 2025-26 season, the first developed under Chad Smith’s regime as president and CEO, the Boston Symphony Orchestra makes much of overriding themes that have guided its programming decisions. The megatheme “E Pluribus … » Read

CHICAGO—Contemporary opera’s golden duo has done it again. Teammates since 2012’s Song from the Uproar , composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek have created their most ambitious work yet with The Listeners , based on … » Read

In February Donald Trump moved with impressive speed to seize control of The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, firing trustees appointed by his predecessor and filling their slots with loyalists who quickly anointed him chairman. Gone were … » Read

NEW YORK—A recent five-day jaunt to hear opera in Berlin, Dresden, and Amsterdam showed Wall Street Journal critic Heidi Waleson that there was very little that was “cautious or old-fashioned on view.” Berlin is home to three … » Read

Players from more than 20 orchestras in the U.K. have signed an open letter to the government urging reform of copyright laws to guarantee that streaming royalties are paid to all performers, including non-featured orchestral players. Currently, … » Read