Appointments and Executive Changes

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    Daniele Rustioni, Fixture at the Met Opera, Will Be Its Guest Conductor

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    Beginning next fall, Rustioni will lead at least two operas each season and help provide continuity for the Met as it rebuilds after a wave of retirements.Daniele Rustioni, an Italian conductor who has become a fixture of the Metropolitan Opera in recent years, has been named its principal guest conductor, the company announced on Wednesday.When he joins the Met next season, Rustioni, 41, will be tasked with helping to bring stability and continuity to the Met Orchestra whenever the company’s music director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, an ever-busy maestro, is away. The ensemble is still working to rebuild after a wave of retirements during the pandemic.“The chemistry I feel with this orchestra and chorus is quite special,” Rustioni said in an interview. “They give an incredible amount of energy, and they are always super committed.”Rustioni, who will serve an initial three-year term, will lead at least two operas each season, the Met said. He is only the third person in the company’s 141-year history to hold the title of principal guest conductor. Fabio Luisi, the last maestro to occupy the post, was hired in 2010 when the Met was grappling with the unpredictable health problems of James Levine, its former music director.Nézet-Séguin, the Met’s music director since 2018, said that he and Rustioni had shared artistic values, and that “having Daniele in this elevated role is good for the orchestra, good for the chorus and good for opera.”Under Nézet-Séguin, the Met Orchestra has worked to recover from the pandemic, filling 17 vacancies and going on high-profile tours in Europe and Asia. But critics have raised concerns about the Met Orchestra’s quality and consistency.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      York Theater Artistic Director Out After ‘Hurtful’ Diversity Comments

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      James Morgan, who has been with the small New York theater company for 50 years, blamed the effects of a stroke for his behavior.The longtime leader of the York Theater Company, a small New York nonprofit known for its emphasis on musical theater, is acknowledging making “hurtful” comments about diversity that he says prompted his abrupt departure from the organization.James Morgan, who has served as producing artistic director of the York since 1979, and who has been with the company for 50 years, issued a letter on Monday saying that he had suffered a stroke in 2022, and attributed his behavior to that medical incident.“During a recent staff meeting, I responded to a colleague’s concerns about the diversity of our audiences in a way that was inappropriate and hurtful,” Morgan wrote in the letter. “The words came out — at a raised volume that has been one of the side effects of the stroke — differently than I intended them.”The York is a niche company, founded in 1969, that operates out of a church on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. During fiscal 2023, it had an annual budget of $2.2 million, according to a filing with the Internal Revenue Service; Morgan was paid a salary of $95,000.On Friday at 5 p.m., the company issued a news release saying that Morgan had “resigned from his duties, effective immediately.” Jim Kierstead, the board’s president, raised the diversity issue in his statement in the news release, saying, “We will soon be announcing plans for a future filled with diversity, talent, and musical theater in order to continue our long legacy of supporting artists of all backgrounds.”It quickly became clear that Morgan’s departure had been preceded by the resignation of Gerry McIntyre, the theater’s associate artistic director.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Roundabout, With 3 Broadway Theaters, Finds Leader in California

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      Christopher Ashley, the artistic director of La Jolla Playhouse and a Tony winner for “Come From Away,” will run the large New York nonprofit.Roundabout Theater Company, one of the nation’s largest nonprofit theaters and a major player on Broadway, has chosen Christopher Ashley, a Tony-winning director who runs an influential theater in California, as its next artistic director.Ashley is a prolific director, particularly of musicals with commercial aspirations, many of which he has developed at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, where he has been the artistic director since 2007.He won a Tony Award for directing “Come From Away,” an inspirational heartbreaker about a Canadian community that welcomed thousands of passengers from flights that were grounded on Sept. 11, 2001. He received Tony nominations for directing the musical “Memphis” and a revival of “The Rocky Horror Show.” He has also directed some high-profile flameouts, including “Diana,” “Escape to Margaritaville” and “Leap of Faith.”Just last week, the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation, an offshoot of the labor union representing American directors and choreographers, announced that next spring Ashley, who is 60, will be given the organization’s Mr. Abbott Award for his contributions to the American theater.“I have loved my time at La Jolla Playhouse, and it’s a very hard place to leave, but the opportunities and possibilities of the Roundabout are impossible to deny,” Ashley said in an interview. “The possibility of programming in their five amazing spaces is exhilarating, and they have an amazing education program, and at a moment when theater is tremendously stressed, Roundabout is, and can continue to be, a real beacon.”The transition will be gradual: Ashley plans to remain artistic director of La Jolla until Jan. 1, 2026, and to start full-time at Roundabout on July 1, 2026. Scott Ellis, who is Roundabout’s interim artistic director, will continue in that role until Ashley’s arrival and the two will collaborate during the 2026-27 season.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      New York Philharmonic Opens Its Season Amid Labor Talks and Troubles

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      The orchestra is working to negotiate a new contract with musicians, resolve a misconduct inquiry and hire a new chief executive.On a recent night at Lincoln Center, a group of New York Philharmonic musicians, dressed in matching black shirts and carrying union leaflets, fanned out and began to evangelize.“Support the musicians!” Thomas Smith, a trumpet player, told a crowd of concertgoers.It was one of the New York Philharmonic’s first concerts of the fall, and the musicians, in the middle of high-stake labor talks, were alerting their audience to what they hoped would be embraced as startling facts.The orchestra’s players have not had a raise since 2019, and they are paid substantially less than colleagues in Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles.“We need your help,” Alina Kobialka, a violinist, said as she handed out leaflets.The scene was a reminder of the stark challenges this season for the Philharmonic, which not so long ago seemed to be beginning a vibrant new chapter.The labor agreement between management and the musicians expires on Friday, only a few days before the orchestra’s opening gala, a major fund-raising event.The Philharmonic lacks a permanent president and chief executive, after the sudden resignation in July of its leader, Gary Ginstling. An investigation into sexual harassment and misconduct at the Philharmonic has dragged on. And the ensemble, which is awaiting the arrival in 2026 of the star conductor Gustavo Dudamel, has no full-time music director this season or next.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Lincoln Center Theater Chooses Lear deBessonet as Artistic Director

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      DeBessonet, currently the artistic director of Encores!, will work alongside Bartlett Sher, who will serve as executive producer.Lincoln Center Theater, a leading nonprofit theater with a long track record of producing luxe Broadway musical revivals as well as contemporary plays, has chosen new leadership for the first time in more than three decades.The theater’s next artistic director will be Lear deBessonet, 44, a stage director who specializes in musical revivals as the artistic director of the Encores! program at New York City Center. DeBessonet will succeed André Bishop, who has led Lincoln Center Theater since 1992, most recently with the title of producing artistic director; he is retiring in June.DeBessonet will work with Bartlett Sher, 65, a Tony-winning director who is a resident director at the organization, and who will now assume the title of executive producer. DeBessonet will select and oversee the theater’s shows and its day-to-day operations; Sher will focus on strategic planning, fund-raising and global partnerships. They will both report to the board’s chairman, Kewsong Lee.In an interview, DeBessonet said that “there is no greater job I can imagine” than running Lincoln Center Theater. “The American theater is the great passion of my life,” she said. “I’ve wanted to be a director and to run a theater since I was a 5-year-old in Baton Rouge.”The changes come amid a tidal wave of turnover throughout the American theater, prompted by a variety of factors, including the retirements of many regional and Off Broadway theater pioneers, as well as the ousters of some leaders who lost support. Across the industry, leaders are facing a new reality: These jobs have become increasingly challenging as nonprofits face rising costs, dwindled audiences, pressures to feature programming that advances social justice but also sells tickets, and changing entertainment consumption habits.Bartlett Sher, who has been directing at Lincoln Center Theater for two decades, will become the nonprofit’s executive producer. Cindy Ord/Getty Images For Tony Awards ProWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      A Barrier-Breaking Conductor Will Lead the Seattle Symphony

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      Xian Zhang will be the first woman and person of color to lead the Seattle Symphony, and one of only two women leading a top-tier American orchestra.Xian Zhang, a renowned conductor who has helped bring the New Jersey Symphony to new heights over the past eight years, will be the Seattle Symphony’s next music director, the orchestra announced on Thursday.When she takes the podium in 2025, Zhang, 51, will be the first woman and the first person of color to lead the Seattle Symphony in its 121-year history, and one of only two women leading a top-tier American orchestra. (The other is Nathalie Stutzmann, the Atlanta Symphony’s music director since 2022.)Zhang, who was born in Dandong, China, and moved to the United States in 1998, said she would work to attract new audiences in Seattle, including more young professionals, families and people of color.“My goal is to have the symphony become even more of a musical icon and a magnet for the city,” she said. “We need to be more obvious and attractive.”Zhang, whose full name is pronounced she-YEN JONG, emerged as a favorite because of her “impeccable technique” and her warm relationship with the orchestra’s musicians and audiences, said Krishna Thiagarajan, the orchestra’s president and chief executive. She made her debut with the Seattle Symphony in 2008 and has been a regular in recent years, earning praise from critics and audience members.“There’s an electricity between her and the orchestra, and an electricity between her and the audience,” Thiagarajan said. “You can feel it in the hall.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      How the Politics of the Gaza War Engulfed the Melbourne Symphony

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      The orchestra faced criticism for canceling a performance by a pianist who spoke about the war. Now a top leader has departed and the ensemble has opened an inquiry.The pianist Jayson Gillham was performing Beethoven’s “Waldstein” sonata and Ligeti’s études at a concert hall in Melbourne, Australia, earlier this month when the concert took an unexpected turn.When Gillham, 38, returned to the stage after intermission, he announced that he would depart from the printed program and play a world premiere: a piece called “Witness” by his friend, the composer Connor D’Netto, dedicated to journalists killed in Gaza.Speaking to the audience, Gillham blamed Israel for the deaths of more than 100 Palestinian journalists over the past 10 months, and said that “the killing of journalists is a war crime in international law, and it is done in an effort to prevent the documentation and broadcasting of war crimes to the world.”The next day, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, which had presented Gillham’s solo recital, informed him it was removing him from a planned concert with the orchestra a few days later, replacing his Mozart piano concerto with a Beethoven symphony. The ensemble said in a letter to audience members that Gillham had made “unauthorized statements” that represented an “intrusion of personal political views” on a piano recital.“I was really surprised,” Gillham said in an interview. “It felt like an overreaction.”A backlash followed: Artists, journalists and music fans in Australia denounced the Melbourne Symphony for canceling Gillham’s performance and defended his right to free speech. The orchestra backtracked, issuing a statement saying it had been wrong to cancel Gillham’s appearance and that it would work to reschedule it. It wound up canceling the Beethoven performance, citing “safety concerns.”But the fallout has continued.On Monday, the Melbourne Symphony announced that its managing director, Sophie Galaise, was departing. The ensemble said it was commissioning an outside investigation into the incident, to be led by Peter Garrett, the former lead singer of the Australian rock band Midnight Oil, who has also been a government minister.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Lincoln Center Taps Education Leader as Next President

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      Mariko Silver, a former president of Bennington College, will take the reins of the organization as it seeks to expand its audience and increase fund-raising.Mariko Silver, a prominent leader in education, government and the nonprofit sphere, will serve as the next president and chief executive of Lincoln Center, the organization announced on Wednesday.Silver, who previously led Bennington College in Vermont and the Henry Luce Foundation in New York, will succeed Henry Timms, who left last month after five years in the job.She will take the reins of Lincoln Center as it works to broaden its audience, navigate an uncertain economy and push through an ambitious plan to tear down the barriers between the center and the surrounding neighborhood. She will also help shape its programming; the center has recently shifted away from classical music in favor of genres like pop, hip-hop, social dance and comedy.“Lincoln Center is the beating heart of New York City,” Silver said in an interview. “I’m incredibly excited to get going and do the work of bringing more beauty, more joy, more art and more human feeling into the world.”The appointment is a milestone for Lincoln Center: Silver, 46, whose father is Jewish and mother is Japanese American, will be the first woman of color to serve as president and chief executive. It is also a homecoming of sorts: Silver grew up a few blocks from the center and studied dance and theater as a child.Steven R. Swartz, the president and chief executive of Hearst, who serves as chair of Lincoln Center’s board, said the organization was impressed by Silver’s record as a nonprofit executive. At Bennington, where she was president from 2013 to 2019, she oversaw the largest capital campaign in the school’s history, raising more than $90 million. She also serves as chair of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art’s board and was an official at the Department of Homeland Security in the Obama administration.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Lyric Opera of Chicago Appoints Orchestra Veteran as New Leader

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      John Mangum, who helped guide the Houston Symphony through the turmoil of the pandemic, will serve as the company’s next general director.John Mangum, a veteran orchestra manager who helped guide the Houston Symphony through the turmoil of the pandemic, will serve as the next general director of Lyric Opera of Chicago starting this fall, the company announced on Wednesday.Mangum, 49, will take the reins of Lyric, one of the premier opera companies in the United States, as it faces a series of challenges, including rising costs, cuts to programming and changes in audience behavior.Mangum said in an interview that he was joining Lyric because it is “one of the great opera companies in the country and really in the world.” He said he was confident that Lyric could find ways to expand its base of fans and donors.“Opera is about storytelling,” he said. “We have to remind people that this is what opera is built from, and there are ways for them to connect.”Mangum has not worked in opera before, but he is a veteran of the classical music industry. He has held posts at a number of institutions, including the San Francisco Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic. Since 2018, he has led the Houston Symphony, helping increase fund-raising and expand community programs.Sylvia Neil, chair of Lyric’s board, said Mangum’s experience in the orchestral world would help the company as it works to broaden its audience.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More