Classical Notes: May 9, 2008 Archive

Congratulations to Albena Danailova! The Bulgarian violinist was appointed yesterday as concertmaster of the Vienna Staatsoper Orchestra. She was already a member of their first violin section, but promoting her to leader of the orchestra is significant--the Vienna Staatsoper didn't even allow women to audition until about 10 years ago.

The other interesting thing about this situation is that most members of the Vienna Staatsoper Orchestra are also members of the Vienna Philharmonic, which is even less welcoming to women. They have one, a harpist. I'm curious to see how those who are members of both orchestras will take to having a woman be the boss of them.

Read more about it here.

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an organization founded two centuries ago by John Adams and John Hancock, among others, has announced its newest members. In the classical music category, congratulations to Marin Alsop, conductor; Dawn Upshaw, singer; Anne Robertson Walters, scholar; and Yehudi Wyner, composer.

And there are also "foreign honorary members" -- so auguri molti to Riccardo Muti.