The Winston-Salem Symphony has announced six music director finalists, who each will conduct a pair of concerts during the orchestra’s 2022–23 season at the UNC School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They are Andrew Grams, Paul Haas, Vladimir Kulenovic, Stilian Kirov, Vinay Parameswaran, and Michelle Merrill. The orchestra plans to announce its next music director in June 2023, after the orchestra’s final main-season concert. Timothy Redmond stepped down as music director in August 2021. E. Merritt Vale is the orchestra’s President and CEO. The orchestra also announced its complete 2022-23 season, which in addition to classics concerts include pops programs; “A Carolina Christmas” with Cirque de la Symphonie; “In the Air Tonight: Symphonic Genesis and Phil Collins”; and R.E.M. founding member Mike Mills in a program featuring Mills’s Concerto for Rock Band, Violin and String Orchestra with violinist Robert McDuffie. Music director candidates Paul Haas and Vladimir Kulenovic previously participated in the League of American Orchestras’ Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview.
