Topic: Industry News

Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and Other Arts Groups Face New Visa Hurdles for Guest Artists

Posted on April 17, 2026 by - News Briefs

In Thursday’s (4/16) Cap Times (Madison, Wisconsin), Lindsay Christians writes, “The first visa delay came at the beginning of this concert season, when the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra had just a few weeks to find a replacement for Ukrainian violinist Vladyslava Luchenko. In January, it happened again… By the season’s last Masterworks performance, set for this Friday … visa cancellations had started to feel like an expensive pattern…. The O-1 visa for artists ‘has always been a difficult visa to get. But … we’ve had (several) cancellations … and it’s nothing to do with the artists themselves,’ said Andrew Sewell, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra’s music director. What one Madison orchestra is dealing with has been felt all around the country by classical music ensembles, theater companies, presenting venues and artists…. ‘This is an industry-wide challenge,’ said Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra CEO Joe Loehnis…. The O-1 visa process, which used to take two to four months as of 2024, has been averaging 10-11 months, according to the League of American Orchestras. Presenters who apply for these visas on behalf of artists … pay for premium, expedited processing—$2,965 per filing, on top of a $530 base fee—with no guarantee an approval will go through in time.”

The Benefits—Artistic and Cognitive—of Making Music in Later Life

Posted on April 15, 2026 by - News Briefs

In Sunday’s (4/11) New Yorker, Tim Parks writes, “Shortly before my sixty-ninth birthday, I stepped into a music store a few minutes from my house, in the southern suburbs of Milan, to buy a mandolin…. I hadn’t touched a mandolin since adolescence … The first weeks were a roller coaster of pleasure and perplexity. Touching the strings, my fingers started to remember things that I had long forgotten…. I struggled to make progress… I became aware of other older people who were returning to music or even taking it up for the first time…. Research suggested that the trend was global. In Germany, in 2023, the national association of music schools reported that the number of seniors in music education had grown six-fold since 2000…. Various European countries had introduced academic programs in the new field of music geragogy—the study of music-learning in old age…. Scientists concurred, music practice in old age confers all kinds of cognitive benefits. After four years of following a group who’d taken up piano in their seventies, neuroscientists at Kyoto University found that … areas of their brains crucial for motor control, learning, cognition, and memory were surprisingly free of the atrophy that usually accompanies aging…. I felt strongly what a different phenomenon music is when you make it yourself. You’re inside it, living it, experiencing a pleasure so intense that pleasure is perhaps no longer the word.”

Reconsidering the Jet-Set Music Director at Today’s Orchestras

Posted on April 14, 2026 by - News Briefs

In Tuesday’s (4/14) New York Times, Adam Nagourney writes, “When JoAnn Falletta was appointed the music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra 25 years ago, one of her first decisions was to move to Buffalo from Virginia. She wanted to be a presence in the city … Like many music directors, she conducts other orchestras: She spends 12 to 14 weeks a year as a guest conductor around the world and was music director of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra until 2021. But the Buffalo Philharmonic has been her home orchestra and Buffalo her home. She came to believe … that an orchestra leader needs to be a visible presence both at the podium and in the community…. Her approach is instructive for conductors and orchestra administrators now as they struggle with defining the role and obligations of a music director. The field today is filled with celebrity conductors who have multiple gigs and residencies … This question of what a community wants from a music director has taken on new urgency as orchestras look for ways to deal with declining audiences … Delta David Gier, the music director of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, said his decision to move to Sioux Falls from New York City 20 years ago was important … ‘In the end it’s all about relationships with people. It’s not simply about selling tickets.’ ”

New Fort Myers Philharmonic Takes Root

Posted on April 6, 2026 by - News Briefs

In Friday’s (4/3) WGCU (Southwest Florida), Tom Hall writes, “Last April, the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra closed its doors after 64 years in operation. To fill the void, an organization spearheaded by community leader Carol Robinson has formed the Fort Myers Philharmonic. Southwest Florida Symphony’s music director and conductor of 16 years, Paul Nadler, will lead the newly created Fort Myers Phil. A highly regarded symphonic and operatic conductor, Nadler’s credits include leading more than 60 performances at the Metropolitan Opera. Christopher Confessore will serve as principal pops conductor. He currently serves as music director of the Brevard Symphony Orchestra and principal pops conductor of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. The Fort Myers Philharmonic’s inaugural concert will take place on Sept. 11 at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Center in partnership with the Fort Myers Symphonic Mastersingers … The Fort Myers Philharmonic was founded in 2025 by arts leaders, professional musicians, and passionate supporters of the performing arts…. ‘With the formation of the Fort Myers Philharmonic, we are investing in the future of orchestral music in Southwest Florida,’ said board chair Carol Robinson…. The Southwest Florida Symphony Endowment Foundation has voted to provide financial support to the Fort Myers Philharmonic … Two full-time philharmonic staff members, an executive director and a development officer, will oversee operations and fundraising.”

Kansas City Symphony to Build Additional Music Hall

Posted on March 30, 2026 by - News Briefs

In Monday’s (3/30) Kansas City Star, Eleanor Nash writes, “The Kansas City Symphony plans to break ground on a new Plaza-area concert venue in 2026. The music hall, located on the vacant land to the south of the Kansas City Public Library’s Plaza branch, will seat 4,600 for touring concerts and film with live orchestra performances … The venue at 4901 Main St. will be designed for ‘contemporary touring artists’ who use microphones, unlike the acoustically focused Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center, which seats 1,600. Symphony CEO Danny Beckley told The Star that the Kauffman Center ‘will always be our home, even after this venue opens.’ He plans for the Symphony to host over 100 shows a year at [Helzberg Hall], built in 2011. Beckley said the still-unnamed concert hall will bring different artists … in addition to funding the Symphony’s classical music. ‘A number of (our peer symphony orchestras) have found that this is a really important way to sustain themselves, by presenting music, not only performing it,’ Beckley said…. While the Symphony will build and own the venue, Cincinnati-based Music and Event Management, Inc. will operate it. A subsidiary of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, MEMI books acts at seven Ohio venues, along with shows in Michigan and South Carolina.”

Violinist Lara St. John Retracts Allegations of Sexual Misconduct About Baltimore Symphony Concertmaster

Posted on March 30, 2026 by - News Briefs

In Friday’s (3/27) Violin Channel, an article states, “In January 2025, Jonathan Carney announced his retirement as Concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for the end of the 2026/27 season after almost three decades in the role. He was given the ensemble’s first honorary title of Concertmaster Laureate. According to The Baltimore Banner, his tenure was also marked by allegations of inappropriate behavior, including alleged [sexual] misconduct in 2005 … In a now-deleted social media post, violinist Lara St. John, who recently released her documentary ‘Dear Lara’ confronting sexual abuse in the classical music industry, took to Facebook to share her opinion on Carney being named Concertmaster Laureate, despite the alleged accounts of misconduct over the years. ‘It is appalling to me that this Carney concertmaster is now allowed to retire with heaps of laurels, while a lot of women have been harassed and abused over a period of decades by this guy,’ St. John wrote.… On March 27, 2025, Carney sued St. John for her Facebook post … On October 20, 2025, the court issued a Memorandum Opinion and Order, through which Judge Lewis A. Kaplan denied St. John’s motion to dismiss the defamation lawsuit filed by Carney…. Carney has this week confirmed … that the defamation case has now been settled, with a ‘key requirement’ from his side being ‘[St. John’s] retraction of allegations about which she had no first-hand knowledge, as well as a cessation of her personal campaign to defame me and cause harm to my reputation in the industry,’ he said. Lara St. John posted the following statement of retraction on her Facebook on Tuesday of this week, writing, ‘I did not knowingly publish any false or inaccurate information. I take seriously the concerns raised by Mr. Carney, therefore I hereby retract the statements I posted on my Facebook page on January 29, 2025 and will remove the post from my Facebook page.’ ”

Pittsburgh Symphony Musicians Greet Passengers at Pittsburgh International Airport—as Holograms

Posted on March 27, 2026 by - News Briefs

In Wednesday’s (3/25) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Chloe Jad writes, “Dylan Naroff raised his 171-year-old violin and began to play his own arrangement of the Steelers’ hype song—‘Renegade’ by Styx—Tuesday morning at Pittsburgh International Airport. He wore a T.J. Watt jersey. But moments later, a hologram of Mr. Naroff—in full concert attire—appeared behind him, and it began playing a far different tune (Tchaikovsky). ‘Holograms are just another way to tell a story,’ said Joe Zeff of Downtown-based Joe Zeff Design. ‘And have I got a story for you, and for the hundreds of thousands of visitors who will pass through this building next month for the NFL Draft.’ From now until April 30, Symphony musicians in holographic form will appear on a 6-foot-tall black box in the airport’s new terminal…. Melia Tourangeau, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, said the hologram performances, blending technology and art, create an invitation to explore the city. ‘Our orchestra has long served as a cultural ambassador for the city… Today, we’re extending that role in a new and unexpected way’ … The dark box came alive with performances from Mr. Naroff, the assistant concertmaster for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Rhian Kenny, principal piccolo, and Douglas Rosenthal, associate principal trombone.”

2026 Avery Fisher Career Grants Awarded

Posted on March 26, 2026 by - News Briefs

The 2026 Avery Fisher Career Grants were announced on March 24 at the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at classical music station WQXR in New York City. The recipients are Leland Ko, cellist; Nathan Meltzer, violinist; Keila Wakao, violinist; and Dmitry Yudin, pianist. The Avery Fisher Artist Program was established in 1974 by Avery Fisher as part of a major gift to Lincoln Center. Since 1976, 183 Career Grants have been awarded (including this year’s grants), and all recipients maintain active music careers. Former Career Grant recipients include pianists Jonathan Biss and Yuja Wang; cellists Carter Brey and Zlatomir Fung; violinists Sarah Chang and Paul Huang; violist Matthew Lipman; double bassist Nina Bernat; and the Calidore String Quartet. Avery Fisher Career Grants of the Avery Fisher Artist Program are designed to give professional assistance and recognition to talented instrumentalists as well as small chamber ensembles who have great potential for major careers in classical music. Each recipient receives an award of $25,000, to be used for advancing a career. The Career Grant ceremony performances are professionally recorded for the recipients’ unrestricted use, archived on the Program’s website, webcast live and later broadcast and streamed by WQXR, and featured on the Taking Note series on PBS. Learn more here. 

Mozart in Manhattan

Posted on March 25, 2026 by - News Briefs

In Wednesday’s (3/25) New York Times, Joshua Barone writes, “Salzburg … has never lost its affection for Wolfgang [Amadeus Mozart]. His likeness is inescapable … tourists visit the house where he was born and the more spacious home the family moved into as it became famous. Those sites are overseen by the Mozarteum Foundation of Salzburg, which maintains a vast collection of memorabilia and instruments. A number of its holdings, like the ink-stained portable clavichord on which Mozart wrote ‘The Magic Flute,’ are on view in ‘Treasures From the Mozarteum Foundation of Salzburg,’ at the Morgan Library and Museum through May 31. The exhibition and its accompanying catalog cover the composer’s entire life and legacy, but much of it is devoted to his foundational years in Salzburg, with objects that collectively illustrate how a boy of seemingly miraculous talent became the Mozart we know today.” The article includes photos and descriptions of artifacts in the exhibit, as well as sound clips of music written by Wolfgang and his sister, Maria Anna, known as Nannerl. The exhibition combines the Morgan Library’s significant holdings in Mozart manuscripts and first editions with remarkable objects, on view in the United States for the first time, from the Mozarteum Foundation of Salzburg.”

Deborah Rutter on the Meaning and the Future of the Kennedy Center

Posted on March 24, 2026 by - News Briefs

In Saturday’s (3/21) National Public Radio, Scott Simon interviews Deborah Rutter, former president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Rutter departed the Kennedy Center last year and is now vice provost for the arts at Duke University. She previously held leadership positions at several American orchestras. Scott Simon: “We’re standing just outside of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., renamed the Trump Kennedy Center by President Trump, who says the center will close after July 4 this summer for two years of reconstruction…. Rutter: What I have been thinking about and saying is that for artists to do their work, they must feel complete freedom, safety and support. When an artist walks on a stage, they have to rip open their hearts, be as vulnerable as possible. And in order to do that, they have to feel safe. They have to be supported. And to the audience members, I say, follow the artist. You are the individual who has that personal taste, who has that interest, who is moved by that particular art form. Always follow the artist…. I think that [the Kennedy Center will have] a grand reopening…. This place is too important in this country.” Rutter will give the keynote address at the opening session of the League of American Orchestras’ 2026 National Conference. Learn more and register at https://leagueconference.org/.