Dausgaard to Seattle

I have to admit: I was not at all surprised to see that Thomas Dausgaard had been appointed the next music director of the Seattle Symphony. He's been their principal guest conductor for some time, and is popular in Seattle.

I saw him there, on my first visit to Benaroya Hall, when I was in Seattle on business a few months ago. The program was Strauss; Four Last Songs with Gun-Britt Barkmin and the Alpine Symphony. Both were well-conducted but I would not make any kind of statement about his overall strengths based on one program.

Current list of known openings:

• Detroit Symphony Orchestra, which Leonard Slatkin leaves at the close of the 2017-18 season.
• Swedish Chamber Orchestra announced in May, 2017, that Thomas Dausgaard will be stepping down as principal conductor at the end of the 2018-19 season. Perhaps this was a tipoff about the Seattle appointment, which commences with 2019-20.
• Dallas Symphony Orchestra (when Jaap van Zweden takes up his new post at the NYPO)
• Milwaukee Symphony
• Shanghai Symphony Orchestra
• San Diego Symphony
• Vienna Staatsoper / VPO (Dominique Meyer not planning to appoint a WSO MD; his contract expires in 2020.)
• Dresden Philharmonic: 2019 departure for Michael Sanderling
• MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony: 2018 departure for Kristian Jarvi
• Scottish Chamber Orchestra: 2018 departure for Robin Ticciati
• Orchestre National de Lyon: open now, with Leonard Slatkin's departure
• Singapore Symphony: 2019 departure for Lan Shui
• Vienna RSO: 2018 departure for Cornelius Meister
• Toronto SO: 2018 departure for Peter Oundjian
• Winnipeg SO: 2018 departure for Alexander Mickelthwate
• Czech Philharmonic, following death of Jiří Bělohlávek
• Hamburg Symphony, following death of Sir Jeffrey Tate
• Washington National Opera, departure of Philippe Auguin at conclusion of 2017-18 
• San Francisco Opera, departure of Nicola Luisotti at conclusion of 2017-18
• Opera North: open now, with Aleksandr Markovic's departure
• Bavarian State Opera: with Kirill Petrenko going to Berlin and KP's Munich contract through 2021, it's sort of implied that he'll give up Munich
• Opera Theatre of Saint Louis: 2017 is Stephen Lord's final season as MD

I am curious about all of these, but of course the San Francisco Opera opening is closest to home.

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

• Ludovic Morlot
• Sian Edwards
• Jun Markl
• Ingo Metzmacher
• Bramwell Tovey
• Jac van Steen
• Mark Wigglesworth
• Simone Young 
• David Robertson
• Peter Oundjian as of the end of 2017-18
• Philippe Auguin

And closed:

• Dennis Russell Davies becomes music director of the Brno Philharmonic, which had been open since 2015, as of the 2018-19 season.
• Nicola Luisotti becoming an assistant music director at the Teatro Real, Madrid, 2018.
• Seattle Symphony, where Thomas Dausgaard will succeed Ludovic Morlot; announced early October, 2016
• Vancouver Symphony; Otto Tausk comes on in 2018
• Orchestra Nationale de France; Emmanuel Krivine takes the post in 2017.
• NDR Elbphilharmonie: Alan Gilbert becomes MD (or chief conductor) in the 2019-20 season.
• St. Louis Symphony Orchestra; Stéphane Denève to succeed David Robertson
• Hong Kong Philharmonic; Jaap van Zweden's contract extended through summer of 2022
• City of Birmingham SO; Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla appointed 2/4/2016, succeeding Andris Nelsons
• New York Philharmonic; Jaap Van Zweden appointed, 1/27/16, succeeding Alan Gilbert
• National Symphony Orchestra; Gianandrea Noseda appointed, 1/4/2016, succeeding Christoph Eschenbach.
• Leipzig Gewandhaus: Andris Nelsons appointed, 9/9/2015
• LSO: Simon Rattle appointed, 3/2/2015
• Orchestra de Paris: Daniel Harding, 6/11/2015
• Berlin Philharmonic: Kirill Petrenko appointed, 6/22/2015
• BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; Thomas Dausgaard succeeds Donald Runnicles in September, 2016