Brazilian conductor Roberto Tibiriça, 68, has been appointed as Music Director of the Parana Symphony Orchestra, based at Teatro Guaíra, in Curitiba, the capital city of the southern Brazilian state of Parana. Tibiriça replaces German conductor Stefan Geiger, who held the position from 2016 to 2020. Read More →

Den Platz des Instruments des Jahres in Deutschland nimmt ab dem 1. Januar die Mandoline ein. Seit 2008 wird jedes Jahr ein Instrument des Jahres gekürt und 12 Monate in den Fokus gestellt. Jedes Bundesland hat seine eigene Vorgehensweise, um das länderübergreifende Ziel zu erreichen: Neugier und Aufmerksamkeit auf die vielen Facetten der Mandoline zu lenken. Read More →

Jorge Parodi

Gulfshore Opera, a professional opera company based in Naples, Florida, has announced that Jorge Parodi will become the company’s first Music Director. Read More →

Pekka Kuusisto
(c) Kaapo Kamu

Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto, 46, has announced that he will take time off from musical engagements for the rest of the year. In a post on social media, Kuusisto writes: « A doctor friend of mine told me some years ago that musicians and actors seem to be the last ones to call in sick. He wasn’t sure if it’s because of dedication, fear of economic trouble – or perhaps some form of a savior complex where the patient assumes that the colleagues, the concert or even the entire artform will collapse if she or he ceases to participate for a while. Read More →

Baldur Brönnimann

Swiss conductor Baldur Brönnimann, 54, has been appointed Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Real Filharmonía de Galicia, in addition to assuming the direction of the Escola de Altos Estudios Musicais. Brönnimann will take over from Paul Daniel as of January 2023. Read More →

Gustavo Gimeno
(c) Marco Borggreve

Gustavo Gimeno, Music Director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra into 2025, has signed a contract that will keep him in that role through the 2029-30 season. The 46-year-old Spanish conductor began his tenure during the 2020-21 season, succeeding long-time director Peter Oundjian. Read More →

Roberto Kalb

Detroit Opera has announced that Mexican-born Roberto Kalb has been named as the new music director. According to a press release, Kalb’s new role is effective Nov. 20 through the end of the 2025-26 season. In his new role, Kalb will work alongside artistic director Yuval Sharon and associate artistic director Christine Goerke to manage the opera’s musical performances.

Deutsche Grammophon has announced the launch of STAGE+, a new classical music subscription service, offering livestreams, a huge video archive and new audio releases – all on one platform. Read More →

Michael Haefliger, 61, hat sich entschieden, seinen bis Ende 2025 laufenden Vertrag als Intendant bei Lucerne Festival nicht mehr zu verlängern. Der Stiftungsrat hat für die Suche einer Nachfolge eine Findungskommission eingesetzt, die eine internationale Ausschreibung durchführen wird. Read More →

Hungarian-Romanian pianist Zoltán Thurzó recently won two Guinness World Record titles in only a bit more than 100 days. In June he performed on a grand piano 63 pieces during 132 minutes, at  temperature between +1°C and +3°C. in Nepal, at the Mount Everest Base Camp, at an altitude of 5,325.77 meters,  officially setting the newest Guinness World Record for ‘Highest altitude grand piano performance’. The complete piano program is available here. Read More →