Museum Mondays

German Baroque kettledrum and trumpet

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

October, 2019

 

Friday Photo

Old Streetcar

Embarcadero, San Francisco

April, 2018

 

Opening Week Conflicts

I'm used to this kind of thing happening at the beginning of December, not the beginning of September, but here's what's lined up for Saturday, September 10 (and there could be more!):

• Antony and Cleopatra world premiere at San Francisco Opera
• Le Nozze di Figaro, set in India before independence, at Opera San José
• Sarah Cahill, The Future is Female, another of her brilliantly-programmed recitals (in Santa Cruz, so a bit far for me). Here's what she's playing: Tara’s Love Will Melt the Sword by Janice Giteck (2002), Music for Piano by Frangiz Ali-Zadeh (1989/1997), Summer Days (2020) by Mary Watkins, Shadow by Rebecca Saunders (2013) Valsa Choro No. 2 by Adelaide Pereira da Silva (1965), The Homeless Wanderer by Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou (1951), Piano Poems by Regina Harris Baiocchi (2020), Small Noise by Hyo-shin Na (2018), Holding Pattern by Maggi Payne(2001), Rang de Basant by Reena Esmail (2012), and Troubled Water by Margaret Bonds (1967). Saturday, September 10, 2022 at 7:30pm, Peace United Church of Christ, 900 High Street | Santa Cruz, CA. www.newmusicworks.org for more info.

Views of the New Bayreuth Ring

Valentin Schwarz directs, Cornelius Meister conducts.

• Zachary Woolfe, NY Times
• Mark Berry, Boulezian
• Das Rheingold
• Die Walküre
• Siegfried
• Götterdämmerung 
• Martin Kettle, The Guardian

Museum Mondays

Exterior Photo

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

October, 2019

 

Friday Photo

Front Yard

Laurel District, Oakland

April, 2018

 

Abortion Rights are Popular

The people of Kansas voted approximately 59% to 41% to preserve abortions rights that are written into their state constitution. KANSAS, a state that hasn't had a Democratic senator since the 1930s.

It's a very very conservative state, but across the board, abortion rights are popular.

Keep / make abortion safe, legal, and readily available to anyone who wants or needs one.

Museum Mondays

 

Detail of a Mosaic

Last Supper at Pompeii

Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco

August, 2021

Family Connections

Aidan Clare Ramsey had an article in VAN Magazine the other day in which he discussed classism and money and the extent to which they control who has a shot at getting started and being successful in western classical music. Kate Wagner had an article on similar themes on The Baffler about three years ago. Donna Lee Davidson wrote about how expensive it is to be a percussionist, and the barriers that creates, at I Care If You Listen.

There's been some publicity in the last few years about the high percentage of people with doctorates and people in academia who have one or more parents who have a doctorate or are in academia. It's getting harder and harder for people from less privileged backgrounds to get into academic and classical music.

Today, Joshua Barone has an article in the NY Times about Santtu-Matias Rouvali, who is presently chief conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra of London, and who is presumed to be a candidate to succeed Jaap van Zweden at the NY Philharmonic. It definitely caught my eye that his home in Finland is a 34-acre farm, but then I got to the part about his parents, who are or were both members of the Lahti Symphony, an excellent orchestra whose conductors have included Osmo Vänskä. Here are a few other people in classical music who have the parental-musician advantage:

• Conductor Joshua Weilerstein (parents are both prominent teachers)
• Cellist Alisa Weilerstein (parents are both prominent teachers)
• Conductor Alan Gilbert (parents were both members of the NY Philharmonic)
• Conductor Marin Alsop (parents were both members of the NYCO orchestra)
• Composer Samuel Adams (father is a well-known composer)
• Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas (show-biz parents and grandparents)
• Ken-David Masur (father was a well-known conductor)
• Stage designer Mathias Fischer-Dieskau (father was a very famous baritone, mother was a cellist)
• Conductor Martin Fischer-Dieskau (father was a very famous baritone, mother was a cellist)
• Cellist Manuel Fischer-Dieskau (father was a very famous baritone, mother was a cellist)

I'm sure that you can think of many more examples. Growing up with musical parents, going to the right schools and knowing the right people provide big boosts.

Friday Photo

Princelet Street, Spitalfields

London, 2014

 

Public Service Announcement, at Least if You're a Mac User

Helpful diacriticals for everyone trying to figure out how to type Søndergård:

• Option-a gets you the a with a degree sign on top: å
• Option-o gets you the slashed o: ø

Baltimore and Minnesota Have New Music Directors

Big news from the big cities:

• Jonathon Heyward becomes music director of the Baltimore Symphony, succeeding Marin Alsop. Baltimore is not in great shape; they've had terrible management and terrible financial problems, although they've also hired Mark Hanson, who is known to be competent.
• Thomas Søndergård becomes music director of the Minnesota Orchestra, succeeding Osmo Vänskä. (The NY Times can manage the umlauts in Vänskä, but not the diacriticals in Søndergård. C'mon, you can do better than that.) Two interesting things about Søndergård: he was a timpanist, unusual among conductors, who tend to be pianists; he married his partner, a baritone, less than two weeks ago. Me, I'm wondering whether he was worried that Obergefell might be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, given Justice Thomas's threat in Dobbs.

Current updates, very recent developments or stuff I missed previously:

• Klaus Mäkelä will be "artistic partner" of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra starting with 2022-23, then becomes their chief conductor in 2027.
• Krzysztof Urbański completed his tenure at the Indianapolis Symphony at the end of the 2020-21 season. He does not currently hold a music directorship. Inquiring minds are curious about why this is, given his immense abilities.
• No successor to Urbański has been named at Indianapolis. Jun Markel is their artistic advisor.
• Alasdair Neale leaves the Marin Symphony at the end of the 2022-23 season.
• Currently, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra is seeking a music director to succeed Ben Simon. Simon will conduct concerts in October and December/January, while candidates to succeed him will each lead a rehearsal / performance day in September, essentially an audition day. They are Cosette Justo Valdes, Ming Luke, Christine Brandes, and Chad Goodman. One of them will succeed Simon after his last concert and lead the rest of the 2022-23 season. Further details on SFCO's web site.
• Daniela Candillari named principal conductor of OTSL.

Comparatively recent news:

• Thomas Dausgaard left the Seattle Symphony, effective January, 2022.
• Susanna Mälkki to leave the Helsinki Philharmonic at the end of her current contract, at the end of the 2022-23 season. She is widely considering a candidate for the NY Philharmonic opening created by Jaap van Zweden's depature. For that matter, she is the principal guest conductor of the LA Philharmonic and considered a candidate to succeed Gustavo Dudamel if he leaves LA. Article at the Times about her. (Mälkki was my first choice to succeed MTT at SFS, because as everyone knew, until they didn't, that Esa-Pekka Salonen was not available.)
• James Gaffigan appointed Music Director of the Komische Oper in Berlin, succeeding Henrik Nanasi, who left several years ago. 
• Nathalie Stutzmann appointed to succeed Robert Spano at the Atlanta Symphony next season (2022-23).
• Eric Jacobsen is the new music director of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.
• Andrés Orozco-Estrada is now music director of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra (not to be confused with the Vienna Philhamonic).
• Garry Walker: now full-time music director of Opera North
• Jun Markl: music director of the Malaysian Philharmonic
• Juanjo Mena: music director of the Cincinnati May Festival
• Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: James Conlon is artistic advisor, presumably until a successor to Marin Alsop is named.
• Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra: Ivan Fischer is now 'honorary guest conductor' (wonder if they now wish that they'd chosen him as chief conductor then, even though they probably really wanted Andris Nelsons at the time, but couldn't get him)
• Royal Stockholm Philharmonic: Ryan Bancroft is chief conductor designate. He starts in 2023-24.
• Anja Bihlmaier is the new chief conductor of the Residentie Orchestra, The Hague.
• Dalia Stasevska is the new chief conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra.

Open positions:

• Sarasota Orchestra, following the death of Bramwell Tovey
• Seattle Symphony: open right now (January, 2022)
• Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra: open in 2024
• Staatskapelle Dresden: open in 2024
• New York Philharmonic, when Jaap van Zweden leaves in 2024.
• Hong Kong Philharmonic, when Jaap van Zweden leaves in 2024.
• Oakland Symphony, owing to the death of Michael Morgan in August, 2021.
• Royal Opera, Covent Garden, when Sir Antonio Pappano leaves for the LSO in September, 2024.
• Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra following the firing of Daniele Gatti
• Opera Theatre of Saint Louis: Stephen Lord resigned following accusations of sexual harassment. OTSL has not named a new music director.
• Teatro Regio Turin: Open now with departure of Gianandrea Noseda. the Teatro Regional's has not named a new music director.
• Minnesota Opera: Michael Christie has left. MO has not named a new music director. 
• Virginia Symphony: JoAnn Falletta is now laureate, but no successor has been named.
• Shanghai Symphony Orchestra
• Minnesota Orchestra, when Osmo Vänskä leaves in 2022.
• San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, at the end of 2022-23.
• Marin Symphony, at the end of 2022-23.

Conductors looking for jobs (that is, as of the near future, or now, they do not have a posting):

• Osmo Vänskä
• Alasdair Neale
• Ben Simon
• Susanna Mälkki, who leaves the Helsinki Philharmonic at the end of 2023-24
• Jaap van Zweden, who leaves the NY Phil at the end of 2023-24
• MGT (apparently does not want a full-time job, as of early 2022)
• Krzysztof Urbański
• Miguel Harth-Bedoya
• Lionel Bringuier
• Ludovic Morlot
• Sian Edwards
• Ingo Metzmacher
• Jac van Steen
• Mark Wigglesworth
• David Robertson
• Peter Oundjian
• Philippe Auguin
• Kwame Ryan
• Ilan Volkov
• Aleksandr Markovic
• Lothar Koenigs
• Henrik Nanasi

And closed:

• Baltimore Symphony, with the appointment of Jonathon Hayward. 
• Michigan Opera Theater: new principal conductor is Daniela Candillari.
• Teatro Comunale, Bologna: Oksana Lyniv becomes music director.
• Sarasota Orchestra: Bramwell Tovey becomes MD in 2022-23.
• Atlanta Symphony: Nathalie Stufzmann to succeed Robert Spano in 2022-23.
• Carlos Kalmar is now Director of Orchestral and Conducting Programs and Principal Conductor of the Cleveland Institute of Musicas well as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago. 
• Houston Synphony: Juraj Valčuha to succeed Andrés Orozco-Estrada.
• Opera de Paris: Gustavo Dudamel succeeds Philippe Jordan.
• Melbourne Symphony: Jaime Martin becomes chief conductor in 2022. Sir Andrew Davis left at the end of 2019. 
• City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra: Kazuki Yamada replaces MGT when she leaves at the end of 2021-22
• London Symphony Orchestra: Sir Antonio Pappano becomes Chief Conductor Designate in September, 2023, Chief Conductor the following year.
• Fort Worth Symphony: Robert Spano to succeed Miguel Harth-Bedoya.
• Oregon Symphony: David Danzmayr succeeds Carlos Kalmar at the beginning of the 2021-22 season.
• Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Maxim Emelyanychev has succeeded Robin Ticciati
• Orchestre de Paris: Klaus Mäkelä to succeed Daniel Harding
• Montreal Symphony Orchestra: Rafael Payare has succeeded Kent Nagano.
• Richmond Symphony: Valentina Peleggi succeeds Steven Smith.
• Singapore Symphony: Hans Graf succeeded Lan Shui.
• BBC National Orchestra of Wales: Ryan Bancroft succeeded Thomas Søndergård
• BRSO hires Sir Simon Rattle to succeed the late Mariss Jansons, effective 2023.

 

Museum Mondays

Annunciation, by Filippo Lippi

Alte Pinakothek, Munich

August, 2015

 

Friday Photo

Street sign, London

May, 2014

 

Museum Mondays

Ceramics

Exhibit on California mid-20th c. design

LACMA

March, 2012

 

La Belle et la Bête, Opera Parallèle

I've filed a rave review of Opera Parallèle's current production of Philip Glass's opera La Belle et la Bête. Move fast and you might be able to get tickets to the two remaining performances, which are tonight (Saturday, July 16) at 7:30 pm and tomorrow (Sunday, July 17) at 3 pm, at SFJazz, 201 Franklin St. in San Francisco. (Update: Tomorrow is sold out, so you would need to get a return.) It is really wonderful; a great film, terrific performers, great music, and a wildly imaginative production.

My rave doesn't include one small reservation, which in no way should keep you from going: there could be less amplification; it's just a bit too loud for me. And there's one aspect of the original that just cannot be matched because the original audio is completely gone. That's Jean Marais's instantly-recognizable, slightly-raspy voice. It's one of two things I remembered from seeing this film as a child. The other is the sconces in the hallway.

• Joshua Kosman, SF Chroncle
• Georgia Rowe, Opera News (link to follow)
• Lisa Hirsch, SFCV

Previous reviews:

• Les Enfants Terribles at Opera Parallèle
• Orphée at ENO (and three other Orpheus operas)

Friday Photo

Succulents and flowers

Laurel District, Oakland,

February, 2017

 

Bramwell Tovey

Conductor Bramwell Tovey, who was to have become music director of the Sarasota Orchestra this year, has died. He was currently Principal Conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra. He was 69 and the cause of death was sarcoma.

He was previously music director of the Winnipeg Symphony and Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and had been Principal Guest Conductor of the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl.

• Antonia Noori Farzan, The Providence Journal
• Cathy Carter, WUSF Public Media

New Musicians at San Francisco Symphony

Davies Symphony Hall

Photo by Lisa Hirsch

Just yesterday, I was contemplating the large number of openings at San Francisco Symphony, which totaled 20, if you went as far back as Robin Sutherland's retirement four years ago. Today comes an announcement of four musicians joining the orchestra at the beginning of the 2022-23 season. From the press release (also, Joshua Kosman spoke with Rainer Eudeikis):

Rainer Eudeikis, Principal Cello  Philip S. Boone Chair

Rainer Eudeikis joins the San Francisco Symphony as Principal Cello with the 2022–23 season. He was previously principal cello of the Atlanta Symphony and Utah Symphony, as well as for the Mainly Mozart Festival and Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.  Recent performances include Dmitri Shostakovich’s and Franz Joseph Haydn’s concertos with the Atlanta Symphony, Robert Schumann’s Cello Concerto and Richard Strauss’s Don Quixote with the Utah Symphony, and numerous solo, recital, and chamber music performances across the US and abroad. Recent performances include Dmitri Shostakovich’s and Franz Joseph Haydn’s concertos with the Atlanta Symphony, Robert Schumann’s Cello Concerto and Richard Strauss’s Don Quixote with the Utah Symphony, and numerous solo, recital, and chamber music performances across the US and abroad. Born in Texas, Mr. Eudeikis began cello studies at the age of six. Following studies in Colorado with Jurgen de Lemos, he attended the University of Michigan as a student of Richard Aaron, completing his Bachelor of Music in three years with highest honors. He received his Master of Music from Indiana University, where he studied with Eric Kim, and subsequently completed his Artist Diploma at the Curtis Institute of Music, studying with Carter Brey and Peter Wiley. He has been invited to serve as artist-faculty at the Aspen Music Festival and Brevard Music Center, and is a dedicated teacher and coach.

Katarzyna Bryla-Weiss, viola Joanne E. Harrington & Lorry I. Lokey Second Century Chair Katarzyna Bryla-Weiss joins the San Francisco Symphony viola section beginning with the 2022–23 season. She was born into a family of musicians and has earned more than two dozen prizes and awards in the US, France, and her native Poland. In 2019 she became a co-principal violist of Orchestra of St. Luke’s and a member of St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble. She has also been a member of the New York City Ballet Orchestra and the New York Pops. Ms. Bryla-Weiss was a soloist on a tour of China with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra in 2010 and was a soloist for the Maazel/Vilar Conducting Competition in Kraków in 2001. She has performed in numerous festivals including Classical Tahoe, Napa Valley Music Festival, Central Vermont Music Festival, Music@Menlo, Cactus Pear Music Festival, Bach Dancing and Dynamite, Singapore Sun Music Festival, and Las Palmas Music Festival. Her teachers include Christian Tetzlaff, David Cerutti, Herbert Greenberg, Honggang Li, Jadwiga Kaliszewska, and her father, Bartosz Bryla.

Leonid Plashinov-Johnson, viola Leonid Plashinov-Johnson joins the San Francisco Symphony viola section in the 2022–23 season. Previously a member of the Saint Louis Symphony, he is a laureate of multiple competitions, most recently the Primrose International Viola Competition and the New England Conservatory Concerto Competition. He has performed as soloist with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the NEC Philharmonic, the Sofia Chamber Orchestra, and the AIMS Festival Orchestra. Previous engagements have included tours across Europe and Asia, as well as concerts with Jacob Collier, the Parker and Verona quartets, and the Covent Garden Soloists Ensemble. As a chamber musician, Mr. Plashinov-Johnson has participated in the Yellow Barn, Ravinia, and AIMS festivals. He graduated from New England Conservatory in 2019, studying with Kim Kashkashian and serving as her teaching assistant. Born in Russia, he began playing the violin at the age of three. After moving to the UK, he was awarded a place at the Yehudi Menuhin School, where he studied the violin under Lutsia Ibragimova. After switching full time to viola, he studied with Andriy Viytovych (principal viola of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden) until moving to the US. Matthew Griffith, Associate Principal & E-flat Clarinet  Matthew Griffith joins the San Francisco Symphony as Associate Principal & E-flat Clarinet with the 2022–23 season. He previously served as acting assistant principal clarinet with the North Carolina Symphony and the Nashville Symphony and was a member of TŌN (The Orchestra Now), a graduate-level training orchestra based at Bard College. Mr. Griffith has performed as guest soloist with the Boston Pops, Milwaukee Symphony, Ocean City Pops, Eastern Connecticut Symphony, United States Army Field Band, and “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band. In 2014 Yale University published The Algorithm of Jazz, a video following his experience performing Artie Shaw’s concerto with the Yale Symphony Orchestra. After graduating from Yale University with distinction in both majors of music and computer science, Mr. Griffith earned graduate degrees in clarinet performance at the New England Conservatory. He was a Tanglewood Music Center fellow, where he was awarded the Gino B. Cioffi Memorial Prize and returned as a New Fromm Player. His teachers included Michael Wayne, David Shifrin, Todd Levy, and Jill Hanes. He grew up in Sheboygan, WI, and enjoys writing computer code and designing videogames. Rainer Eudeikis succeeds the late Michael Grebanier; Matthew Griffith succeeds Luis Baez.

Casting Salome

Zachary Woolfe of the Times reported on the Aix-en-Provence Festival the other day, and said this; boldface by me:

The most eyebrow-raising casting at Aix this year was the soprano Elsa Dreisig as Salome, a role usually taken by those who also sing Wagnerian heroines. Dreisig, just into her 30s, is better known for far lighter roles like Mozart’s Pamina and Zerlina.

Well, I'm not so sure about that, and "Wagnerian heroines" also includes lyric roles such as Elsa. Here's a list of notable historic and recent or current Salomes, some of whom I grabbed from the San Francisco Opera's archive:

• Maria Jeritza
• Lily Djanel
• Brenda Lewis
• Ljuba Welitsch 
• Maria Cebotari
• Emmy Destinn
• Astrid Varnay
• Birgitte Nilsson
• Leonie Rysanek
• Inge Borkh
• Anja Silja
• Josephine Barstow
• Gwyneth Jones
• Montserrat Caballe
• Hildegard Behrens
• Inga Nielsen
• Karita Mattila
• Asmik Gregorian
• Marlis Petersen
• Patricia Racette
• Teresa Stratas (video and recording studio only)
• Maria Ewing

That's...quite a range of voices.

Richard Taruskin

The musicologist Richard Taruskin died on July 1, 2022 at 77. He was surely the most important and influential musicologist of his generation, and very likely of several generations. He became prominent after I'd quit grad school, so I did not have to grapple with his work or his personality during my studies. I read some of his NY Times articles, and I might be going back to read a few more, or reread some of the more famous ones.

He had a combative personality; on Twitter, many folks attested to his greatness as a scholar and teacher, and others mentioned incidents where he bullied people in public. Here's a thread that is absolutely about Taruskin the bully. Some of his opinions were eye-rolling; his Times articles included attacks on composers he didn't like, including Carter, Boulez, and Martino.

But he said a lot that needed to be said: that Stravinsky was profoundly Russian, despite his efforts to claim that he really wasn't; that music can't be understood out of its historical context; that the "Western canon" was designed to be German.

Among Taruskin's big works was the enormous Oxford History of Western Music. I can't imagine anyone else having the breadth of knowledge to write such a thing (I imagine that research assistants were involved, but I don't have a copy so I cannot check the credits*), or, ahem, the hubris to try. I understand from the obituaries and various comments on Twitter that there are no Black composers mentioned in this six-volume, 4200 page monster. I wonder how many female composers are mentioned. You have to wonder about that, and also wonder where the fuck his editors were.

Back in the day, a couple of grad students decided to live-blog reading the Oxford History. Read The Taruskin Challenge for all sorts of fun!

Last June, Will Robin, author of the NY Times obit for Taruskin, interviewed the musicologist for his podcast, Sound Expertise. I listened to it a few weeks later, and during the interview, Taruskin said something so jaw-dropping that I replayed that bit multiple times and then read the transcript to make sure that he'd really said what I heard him say. First, there was this, which is reasonable:

Musicology was very much of an [unclear] thing when I was a student, you have no idea, you young people, you have no idea how narrowly the field was defined in the 1960s when I was introduced to it. That's why I take a somewhat jaded view of all the clamor for inclusion nowadays. I'm all for the inclusion of racial minorities and women, who are a majority after all. 

And then, a few minutes later, there's this:

If you have a desirable political end in mind, you will skew your scholarship to produce a good result. That's a hard one to resist. And therefore, I feel it's really important to resist. And that's why I made a few somewhat skeptical remarks about all of the pressure for inclusion. That is our shibboleth now in musicology -- well, in the humanities, and I therefore find it important to bring up the question of what is sacrificed or what is lost when you gain -- whatever it is. 

To spell it out: first, he equates greater inclusion with "desirable political ends." And it never occurs him to ask what might have been lost during literally centuries of exclusion of women, Black people, and other minorities from musicologies. This is intellectually dishonest and a real failure on Taruskin's part.

I've also got to note that he had advantages that most people don't: he went to Columbia for his undergrad, masters, and doctoral studies, then got his first professional appointment there. This kind of career trajectory is incredibly rare today. Among other things, I was advised not to stay at my undergrad institution for graduate school; new Ph.D.s rarely get hired at their doctoral institution these days. I am pretty sure that in the Sound Expertise interview, Taruskin mentions that his mentor Paul Henry Lang got him access to publishing in The Musical Quarterly, and, again, that's a rare advantage.

Here are the formal obits and other articles that I've seen; I'd also suggest reading mentions of him on Twitter here and here. (They're two different searches and bring up different tweets.)

• William Robin, NY Times
• Joshua Kosman, SF Chron
• Tim Page, Washington Post
• Michael Zwiebach, SFCV
• James R. Oestreich, NY Times (This is called an appraisal, but it's not. It's Oestreich reminiscing about Taruskin almost completely uncritically.)
• Olivia Giovetti, A Richard Taruskin Playlist, VAN
• Tom Huizinga, NPR

The three obits address his career and personality from somewhat different angles and all are worth reading. 

* Regarding RAs, a Twitter friend tells me they believe that Taruskin did not use RAs.

UPDATED: July 11, 2022

Museum Mondays

Encrusted vase

Last Supper at Pompeii

Museum of the Palace of the Legion of Honor, SF

August, 2021

 

Musical Chairs Update

 Current updates, very recent developments or stuff I missed previously:

• Klaus Mäkelä will be "artistic partner" of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra starting with 2022-23, then becomes their chief conductor in 2027.
• Krzysztof Urbański completed his tenure at the Indianapolis Symphony at the end of the 2020-21 season. He does not currently hold a music directorship. Inquiring minds are curious about why this is, given his immense abilities.
• No successor to Urbański has been named at Indianapolis. Jun Markel is their artistic advisor.
• Alasdair Neale leaves the Marin Symphony at the end of the 2022-23 season.
• Ben Simon leaves the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra at the end of the 2022-23 season.
• Daniela Candillari named principal conductor of OTSL.

Comparatively recent news:

• Thomas Dausgaard left the Seattle Symphony, effective January, 2022.
• Susanna Mälkki to leave the Helsinki Philharmonic at the end of her current contract, at the end of the 2022-23 season. She is widely considering a candidate for the NY Philharmonic opening created by Jaap van Zweden's depature. For that matter, she is the principal guest conductor of the LA Philharmonic and considered a candidate to succeed Gustavo Dudamel if he leaves LA. Article at the Times about her. (Mälkki was my first choice to succeed MTT at SFS, because as everyone knew, until they didn't, that Esa-Pekka Salonen was not available.)
• James Gaffigan appointed Music Director of the Komische Oper in Berlin, succeeding Henrik Nanasi, who left several years ago. 
• Nathalie Stutzmann appointed to succeed Robert Spano at the Atlanta Symphony next season (2022-23).
• Bramwell Tovey takes over the Sarasota Orchestra as music director in 2022 and is now MD-designate.
• Eric Jacobsen is the new music director of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.
• Andrés Orozco-Estrada is now music director of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra (not to be confused with the Vienna Philhamonic).
• Garry Walker: now full-time music director of Opera North
• Jun Markl: music director of the Malaysian Philharmonic
• Juanjo Mena: music director of the Cincinnati May Festival
• Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: James Conlon is artistic advisor, presumably until a successor to Marin Alsop is named.
• Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra: Ivan Fischer is now 'honorary guest conductor' (wonder if they now wish that they'd chosen him as chief conductor then, even though they probably really wanted Andris Nelsons at the time, but couldn't get him)
• Royal Stockholm Philharmonic: Ryan Bancroft is chief conductor designate. He starts in 2023-24.
• Anja Bihlmaier is the new chief conductor of the Residentie Orchestra, The Hague.
• Dalia Stasevska is the new chief conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra.

Open positions:

• Seattle Symphony: open right now (January, 2022)
• Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra: open in 2024
• Staatskapelle Dresden: open in 2024
• New York Philharmonic, when Jaap van Zweden leaves in 2024.
• Hong Kong Philharmonic, when Jaap van Zweden leaves in 2024.
• Oakland Symphony, owing to the death of Michael Morgan in August, 2021.
• Royal Opera, Covent Garden, when Sir Antonio Pappano leaves for the LSO in September, 2024.
• Baltimore Symphony, because Marin Alsop did not renew her contract there. 
• Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra following the firing of Daniele Gatti
• Opera Theatre of Saint Louis: Stephen Lord resigned following accusations of sexual harassment. OTSL has not named a new music director.
• Teatro Regio Turin: Open now with departure of Gianandrea Noseda. the Teatro Regional's has not named a new music director.
• Minnesota Opera: Michael Christie has left. MO has not named a new music director. 
• Virginia Symphony: JoAnn Falletta is now laureate, but no successor has been named.
• Shanghai Symphony Orchestra
• Minnesota Orchestra, when Osmo Vänskä leaves in 2022.
• San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, at the end of 2022-23.
• Marin Symphony, at the end of 2022-23.

Conductors looking for jobs (that is, as of the near future, or now, they do not have a posting):

• Osmo Vänskä
• Alasdair Neale
• Ben Simon
• Susanna Mälkki, who leaves the Helsinki Philharmonic 
• Jaap van Zweden, who leaves the NY Phil at the end of 2023-24
• MGT (apparently does not want a full-time job, as of early 2022)
• Krzysztof Urbański
• Miguel Harth-Bedoya
• Lionel Bringuier
• Ludovic Morlot
• Sian Edwards
• Ingo Metzmacher
• Jac van Steen
• Mark Wigglesworth
• David Robertson
• Peter Oundjian
• Philippe Auguin
• Kwame Ryan
• Ilan Volkov
• Aleksandr Markovic
• Lothar Koenigs
• Henrik Nanasi

And closed:

• Michigan Opera Theater: new principal conductor is Daniela Candillari.
• Teatro Comunale, Bologna: Oksana Lyniv becomes music director.
• Sarasota Orchestra: Bramwell Tovey becomes MD in 2022-23.
• Atlanta Symphony: Nathalie Stufzmann to succeed Robert Spano in 2022-23.
• Carlos Kalmar is now Director of Orchestral and Conducting Programs and Principal Conductor of the Cleveland Institute of Musicas well as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago. 
• Houston Synphony: Juraj Valčuha to succeed Andrés Orozco-Estrada.
• Opera de Paris: Gustavo Dudamel succeeds Philippe Jordan.
• Melbourne Symphony: Jaime Martin becomes chief conductor in 2022. Sir Andrew Davis left at the end of 2019. 
• City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra: Kazuki Yamada replaces MGT when she leaves at the end of 2021-22
• London Symphony Orchestra: Sir Antonio Pappano becomes Chief Conductor Designate in September, 2023, Chief Conductor the following year.
• Fort Worth Symphony: Robert Spano to succeed Miguel Harth-Bedoya.
• Oregon Symphony: David Danzmayr succeeds Carlos Kalmar at the beginning of the 2021-22 season.
• Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Maxim Emelyanychev has succeeded Robin Ticciati
• Orchestre de Paris, Klaus Mäkelä to succeed Daniel Harding
• Montreal Symphony Orchestra: Rafael Payare has succeeded Kent Nagano.
• Richmond Symphony: Valentina Peleggi succeeds Steven Smith.
• Singapore Symphony: Han Graf succeeded Lan Shui.
• BBC National Orchestra of Wales: Ryan Bancroft succeeded Thomas Søndergård
• BRSO hires Sir Simon Rattle to succeed the late Mariss Jansons, effective 2023.