Antony Hermus has been appointed Chief Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra from September 2027. He will lead the orchestra’s main subscription series at Glasgow City Halls, undertake recording work, tour to Edinburgh’s Usher Hall and other major Scottish venues, and appear annually at the BBC Proms. Hermus completes his tenure as Chief Conductor of the Belgian National Orchestra this summer, becoming Conductor Laureate for the 2026–27 season. As Principal Guest Conductor of Opera North he led the company’s 2025 production of Simon Boccanegra in London, winning a Sky Arts Award, and has conducted widely across Europe including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Danish National Symphony and Barcelona Symphony.
Marcus Thompson has announced he will step down as Artistic Director of the Boston Chamber Music Society (BCMS) at the end of the 2026–27 season, his 18th year in the role. During his tenure Thompson oversaw significant innovations in repertoire, founded a Commissioning Club supporting new works for chamber ensembles, and helped grow the organisation’s annual individual contributions by 40 per cent since 2016. He will continue to perform with BCMS and to teach at the New England Conservatory and MIT, where he holds the title of Institute Professor, the highest faculty honour the institution bestows. A search for his successor is under way.
Dennis Russell Davies has had his contract as Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Filharmonie Brno renewed until the end of the 2029–30 season. Davies has held the post since 2018, and the collaboration has produced seven recordings featuring works by Dvořák, Pärt, Glass, Reicha and Novák, alongside tours to the United Kingdom and United States. Since 2020 he has simultaneously served as Principal Conductor of the MDR Symphony Orchestra. Davies began his career as Music Director of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra before moving to Europe, where he has held positions including General Music Director of the Staatsoper Stuttgart and Chief Conductor of the Bruckner Orchester Linz, where in 2013 he inaugurated the new Linzer Musiktheater with the world premiere of Philip Glass and Peter Handke’s Spuren der Verirrten.
Matthias Pintscher has extended his contract as Music Director of the Kansas City Symphony until the end of the 2033–34 season. A conductor and composer, Pintscher took up the post in 2024–25 as the orchestra’s fifth music director and has since led two European tours, including appearances at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonie and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie. He was formerly Music Director of Ensemble Intercontemporain for a decade and has held positions including Principal Conductor of the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra and Creative Partner of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. The Kansas City Symphony has ascended to a top-20 American orchestra under his leadership, giving more than 340 performances last season.
Antonello Manacorda has been appointed Artistic and Musical Director of Les Siècles from the 2027–28 season. Born in Turin and based in Berlin, Manacorda served as Artistic and Musical Director of the Kammerakademie Potsdam from 2010 to 2025, and was profoundly shaped by his collaboration with Claudio Abbado, who appointed him concertmaster of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra in 1994. He was also a founding member and concertmaster of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. As a guest conductor he appears regularly with the Berlin Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Dresden Staatskapelle, and at major opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House and Bayerische Staatsoper. His first season as director opens with a new production of Massenet’s Thaïs at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in 2027–28. Founded by François-Xavier Roth in 2003, Les Siècles is one of Europe’s leading historically informed orchestras.
Mélisse Brunet has had her contract renewed as Music Director of the Lexington Philharmonic until the end of the 2030–31 season, carrying the orchestra into its 65th year. Appointed in 2022 as the orchestra’s fifth music director and the first woman to hold the role, Brunet has led a period of artistic expansion that has included ambitious programming, educational engagement and a commitment to works by living composers and composers from underrepresented communities. Highlights of her tenure include her Carnegie Hall debut with the American Composers Orchestra in October 2025 and the appointments of composers Shawn E. Okpebholo and Brittany J. Green as Composer-in-Residence.
Karina Canellakis has extended her partnership with the London Philharmonic Orchestra as Principal Guest Conductor for a further three years until the end of the 2029–30 season. Canellakis took up the role in 2021, and her tenure has included a seven-city European tour with Anne-Sophie Mutter, which received an Opus Klassik nomination for Tour of the Year, and the release of a double CD of Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6 on the LPO’s own label in 2025. In the upcoming season she will lead three subscription programmes at the Royal Festival Hall, including works by Beethoven, Mahler and Brahms, alongside collaborations with Christian Tetzlaff, Alice Sara Ott and Hilary Hahn. Canellakis also serves as Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra.
Finnish conductor Ari Rasilain has been appointed Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra of Chile for a four-year term beginning 1 January 2027, succeeding Venezuelan conductor Rodolfo Saglimbeni, who died in 2025. Founded in 1941, the orchestra is one of the oldest professional ensembles in Latin America and performs in the Gran Sala Sinfónica Nacional, inaugurated in Santiago in July 2025. Rasilainen has held positions including Principal Conductor of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, General Music Director of the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz and Chief Conductor of the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz and has been Professor of Conducting at the University of Music Würzburg since 2011.
Sara Aldana has been appointed Assistant Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1 September 2026, succeeding Naomi Woo, who completes her tenure in August and will return as a guest conductor during the 2026–27 season. Born in Bogotá, Colombia, Aldana is a student of Marin Alsop and a 2026 Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship mentee. She served as cover conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 2023 to 2025 and has held positions as assistant conductor of the Reno Chamber Orchestra and conducting fellow at the Festival Paax GNP in Mexico. Alongside assisting Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin and guest conductors, she will lead Family Concerts and participate in residency programmes, tours and educational activities.
Kristian Sallinen has been appointed Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra from August 2027 for a three-year term, succeeding Matthew Halls as the orchestra’s 13th Chief Conductor. His appointment follows an acclaimed main-season debut with the orchestra in September 2025. The Finnish conductor completed his orchestral conducting studies with Sakari Oramo at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki in 2025, having previously studied with Jorma Panula and been mentored by Paavo Järvi, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Hannu Lintu. He has made recent appearances with the BBC Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, and in spring 2026 made his opera debut at the Finnish National Opera with a double bill of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta and Sibelius’ Luonnotar.