Anna Handler has been appointed Conductor-in-Residence of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from the 2026–27 season. Her responsibilities will include an annual three-week commitment at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Hollywood Bowl and Beckmen YOLA Center, leading the orchestra and conducting an annual project with YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles). Handler’s relationship with the LA Phil began through the Dudamel Fellowship Program in 2023, and she has since been appointed Chief Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra and Artist-in-Residence at Beethoven-Haus Bonn for its 2026–27 season, marking the 200th anniversary of Beethoven’s death.
Anne Akiko Meyers has been named Artistic Partner of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for a five-year term beginning in the 2026–27 season. A GRAMMY-Award-winning violinist, Meyers has a longstanding relationship with the conductorless ensemble through live performances and recordings, most recently appearing together at Carnegie Hall in spring 2025 for the world premiere of Eric Whitacre’s The Pacific Has No Memory, commissioned in response to the Palisades fires.
Stepan Armasar has been appointed Bernard Haitink Associate Conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for the 2026–27 and 2027–28 seasons, a position made possible by a donation from the Haitink family. The Moldovan conductor will collaborate on approximately half the orchestra’s concert programmes, assisting Klaus Mäkelä and other leading conductors in Amsterdam, and will conduct several subscription concerts in the latter half of the 2027–28 season. Armasar, who won both first prize and the audience prize at the 2025 Arturo Toscanini International Conducting Competition, succeeds Aurel Dawidiuk, who becomes Music Director of the Bochum Symphony Orchestra in September 2026.
Marie Jacquot has been appointed Chief Conductor of the WDR Sinfonieorchester in Cologne from the 2026–27 season, for an initial four-year term. She opens her tenure with an inaugural concert at the Cologne Philharmonic Hall on 18 September 2026, conducting a programme that includes works by Chopin, Augusta Holmès, Scriabin and Wagner.
