Famed conductor and composer Andre Previn has passed away at the age of 89.

​NPR has the story here.

Julius P. Williams has been named president of the Conductors Guild, a global membership organization encompassing conductors of symphony, opera, ballet, choral, band, contemporary, and chamber ensembles. Dr. Williams is the first African American president in the organization’s history. He began his two-year term on January 3.

Currently, Dr. Williams serves as a professor of composition at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He is also the artistic director and conductor of the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra, music director and conductor of Trilogy: An Opera Company in New Jersey, composer with the Boston Symphony Orchestra “Composer-in-Residence Project,” and works with the Boston Pops Orchestra.

​You can learn more here.

(from a press release)

Seattle Symphony Music Director Designate Thomas Dausgaard and President & CEO Krishna Thiagarajan announce the Grammy-winning orchestra’s 2019–2020 season, charting the course for a new artistic partnership and a new era in the orchestra’s history. The season’s programs reflect Dausgaard’s strong desire for the orchestra’s sound to reflect and represent humanity, as well as his deep curiosity about the creative process. In addition to featuring several dozen living composers, and composers who have been left out of the traditional symphonic canon, Dausgaard has invited the community at large to participate in music-making as artists, composers and performers.

Season highlights will include:

THOMAS DAUSGAARD REPERTOIRE HIGHLIGHTS
In his first season as Music Director, Dausgaard will conduct 12 weeks including R. Strauss’ Salome, Haydn’s The Creation, Nielsen’s Symphony No. 1, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Bernstein’s Songfest.
TWENTY-FIVE LIVING COMPOSERS
Representing the human experience from bold and diverse perspectives are: John Adams, Eddie Mora Bermúdez, Anna Clyne, Chick Corea, Charles Corey, Anthony DiLorenzo, Reena Esmail, Janice Giteck, Daniel Kidane, Elena Langer, Hannah Lash, Flo Menezes, Olga Neuwirth, Juan David Osorio, Angelique Poteat, Huang Ruo, David Sampson, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, Kate Soper, Bent Sørensen, Tyshawn Sorey, Conrad Tao, Lotta Wennäkoski, Ryan Wigglesworth, and the 2020 Celebrate Asia Composition Competition winner. 
COMPOSER IN RESIDENCE TYSHAWN SOREY
New commission for cello and orchestra, community collaborations and school activities.  
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE SETH PARKER WOODS
Cello soloist in world premiere by Tyshawn Sorey, chamber music and youth mentoring.  
BEETHOVEN 2020 FESTIVAL
In celebration of Beethoven’s 250th birthday, Thomas Dausgaard invites diverse community members to the stage as artists, composers and performers. Beethoven’s nine symphonies will be heard alongside commissioned world premieres by Charles Corey, Janice Giteck, Angelique Poteat and Tyshawn Sorey. 
ADDITIONAL SEATTLE SYMPHONY COMMISSIONS
Reena Esmail’s Sitar Concerto, Elena Langer’s Figaro Gets a Divorce Suite, Hannah Lash’s Double Harp Concerto and Angelique Poteat’s Cello Concerto. 
20TH-CENTURY VOICES
Also represented on the season are trailblazing, yet seldom heard 20th-century voices including Amy Beach, Nadia Boulanger, Julius Eastman and Florence Price.
RACHMANINOV CONCERTO FESTIVAL
Guest conductor Ryan Bancroft leads a two-concert Rach Fest, with Rachmaninov’s piano concertos performed by rising star pianists Ivan Bessonov, Alexandra Dovgan, Rémi Geniet and Aimi Kobayashi.
OCTAVE 9: RAISBECK MUSIC CENTER
Octave 9: Raisbeck Music Center opens March 3, 2019. From March through June 2019, the experimental space will host over 70 contemporary composers and 70 instrumentalists. The 2019–2020 Octave 9 season will be announced in July 2019; highlights include works by Julius Eastman, Hannah Lash, Kate Soper and Tyshawn Sorey and performances by Claire Chase and Anthony Romaniuk.

In addition, the Seattle Symphony’s first-ever Nielsen cycle, which began in 2017 with the Grammy-nominated recording of Symphonies Nos. 3 and 4 with Thomas Dausgaard, will continue with a live concert recording of Symphony No. 2 in April 2019 and Symphony No. 1 in January 2020. Thomas Dausgaard has previously released two critically acclaimed recordings with the Seattle Symphony (Mahler’s Symphony No. 10, Deryck Cooke version and Nielsen Symphonies Nos. 3 and 4), and his future recordings with the orchestra will continue to capitalize on the orchestra’s compelling live performances, recorded masterfully for the Seattle Symphony Media label by the orchestra’s Grammy-winning recording engineer, Dmitriy Lipay.

​

(from a press release)

OPERA America, the national service organization for opera and the nation’s leading champion for American opera, is pleased to announce the recipients of its first-ever Civic Practice Grants, supported by OPERA America’s Opera Fund endowment.
 
Civic Practice Grants help U.S. Professional Company Members of OPERA America and their partners develop new or deeper relationships within their communities — leading to mutual understanding, sustained collaboration, and shared projects and programming.
 
Grants of up to $30,000 each, awarded on a biennial basis, support opera companies’ efforts to learn more about civic priorities within their communities, to develop relationships with leading arts and non-arts organizations and their leaders, and to discover and deliver services that strengthen their communities, as well as the visibility and trust of the opera company within it.
 
A total of $180,000 was awarded to seven companies: Chicago Opera Theater, Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Minnesota Opera, Opera Omaha, San Francisco Operaand The Santa Fe Opera. 
 
“With Civic Practice Grants, we see a great opportunity to use the art form’s unique qualities to address local civic priorities through authentic, mutually beneficial partnerships,” stated OPERA America President/CEO Marc A. Scorca. “These new grants help opera companies find ways to enhance their real and perceived value as cultural citizens in communities throughout the country.”

Applications for the next round of applications will be available this summer here.

And here are the winners from last night's Grammy Awards in the Classical category:

Best Engineered Album, Classical:
“Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 11” — Shawn Murphy & Nick Squire, engineers; Tim Martyn, mastering engineer (Andris Nelsons & Boston Symphony Orchestra) (WINNER)
Producer Of The Year, Classical:
Blanton Alspaugh (WINNER)

Best Orchestral Performance:
“Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 11” — Andris Nelsons, conductor (Boston Symphony Orchestra) (WINNER)
Best Opera Recording:
“Bates: The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs” — Michael Christie, conductor; Sasha Cooke, Jessica E. Jones, Edwards Parks, Garrett Sorenson & Wei Wu; Elizabeth Ostrow, producer (The Santa Fe Opera Orchestra) (WINNER)
Best Choral Performance:
“McLoskey: Zealot Canticles” — Donald Nally, conductor (Doris Hall-Gulati, Rebecca Harris, Arlen Hlusko, Lorenzo Raval & Mandy Wolman; The Crossing) (WINNERS)
Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance:
“Anderson, Laurie: Landfall” — Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet (WINNER)
Best Classical Instrumental Solo:
“Kernis: Violin Concerto” — James Ehnes; Ludovic Morlot, conductor (Seattle Symphony) (WINNER)
Best Classical Solo Vocal Album:
“Songs of Orpheus – Monteverdi, Caccini, D’India & Landi” — Karim Sulayman; Jeannette Sorrell, conductor; Apollo’s Fire, ensembles (WINNER)
Best Classical Compendium:
“Fuchs: Piano Concerto ‘Spiritualist’; Poems of Life; Glacier; Rush” — JoAnn Falletta, conductor; Tim Handley, producer (WINNER)
Best Contemporary Classical Composition:
“Kernis: Violin Concerto” — Aaron Jay Kernis, composer (James Ehnes, Ludovic Morlot & Seattle Symphony) (WINNER)

Matthew Savery, music director and conductor of the Bozeman (Montana) Symphony is under investigation over charges of bullying, harassment, mistreatment and more.

Savery became aware of the investigation, being conducted by the orchestra's board, last week.  He is pledging to cooperate fully.  The complaint was lodged by 14 people, including former and present musicians, staff, and donors.

The whole story is available here.