Ilan Kumaranayake Mendel has been appointed Resident Conductor of the Calgary Philharmonic from the 2026–27 season. Mendel, who holds an Artist Diploma in Trombone from the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music, previously served as inaugural Assistant Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra. He has also held leadership roles with the Toronto Chamber Symphony and the Bloor-Annex Brass Ensemble. In his new role he will lead Education, Community, Pops and Specials programmes alongside his work with the orchestra’s Education and Outreach team. His appointment comes as the Calgary Philharmonic continues its search for a new Music Director.
Joana Mallwitz has extended her contract as Chief Conductor of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin for a further five years from the 2028–29 season until the end of the 2032–33 season. Mallwitz has held this position since the 2023–24 season and is regarded as one of the outstanding conductors of her generation since her acclaimed debut at the 2020 Salzburg Festival with Mozart’s Così fan tutte. An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist, her recording of The Kurt Weill Album with the Konzerthausorchester earned her the OPUS Klassik award for Conductor of the Year. She appears regularly at major opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper and Royal Opera House, and with leading orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Matthias Pintscher has been appointed Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO), serving as Music Director Designate in 2026–27 before beginning a four-year term from the 2027–28 season. He succeeds Jaime Martín, who directed the orchestra for eight seasons and becomes Music Director Laureate in 2027–28. Pintscher’s connection with LACO began in 2018 when he was Artist-in-Residence. He takes up the role alongside both his position as Music Director of the Kansas City Symphony, whose collaboration with him was recently extended until 2033–34, and his role as Creative Partner with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
Nicholas Carter has been appointed Chief Guest Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for a three-year term from January 2027. Carter has a long-standing connection with the orchestra, having first appeared on its stage as a 12-year-old member of the National Boys Choir before returning regularly as a guest conductor. His first subscription concert in the new role will feature Bruckner’s Symphony No.8. The appointment coincides with a significant moment in his career: Carter joins the Staatsoper and Staatsorchester Stuttgart from the 2026–27 season as its General Music Director, becoming the first Australian to hold the position at the house in its more than 400-year history.
Oscar Jockel has been appointed Principal Conductor of the Remix Ensemble and Conductor-in-Residence at Casa da Música in Porto from January 2027. From 2022 to 2024 he served as Assistant Conductor to Kirill Petrenko at the Berliner Philharmoniker, following his success at the Philharmonie Berlin Conducting Competition and participation in the Karajan Academy. He previously served as Assistant Conductor to Matthias Pintscher at Ensemble Intercontemporain and was awarded the Herbert von Karajan Prize in 2023. During the 2026–27 season he makes debuts with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and Konzerthausorchester Berlin, and at the Opernhaus Zürich, where he will conduct a new production of Péter Eötvös’s Angels in America.
Ari Pelto has been appointed Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera from the 2026–27 season, having served as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor since 2023. Pelto has held positions including Music Director at Opera Colorado, Artistic Advisor at Boston Lyric Opera and Principal Guest Conductor at Opera Memphis. He has conducted leading American orchestras including the Detroit Symphony, San Diego Symphony and St Louis Symphony, and has an ongoing relationship with the Atlanta Ballet, leading world premieres of Twyla Tharp’s first story ballet The Princess and the Goblin and Helen Pickett’s Camino Real.