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Esa Pekka SalonenSF Symphony's next MD; Yannick takes over at Met; positive financial reports from COC, NBO, and KWS; winter new music in Winnipeg, & more.
 
People in the news
 
Esa-Pekka Salonen (pictured below, from sfsymphony.org) will be the next San Francisco Symphony music director, taking the helm vacated by Michael Tilson Thomas in 2020, the New York Times reports.  
 
The Metropolitan Opera's new music director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, made his official debut in that role this week, two years ahead of schedule, with a new production of La Traviata. The New York Times caught up with Yannick in rehearsal, and found him bringing a fresh perspective to the company. 
 
The National Arts Centre Orchestra hired a new managing director, Arna Einarsdóttir, formerly managing director of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the Ottawa Citizen reports. Christopher Deacon, NACO's previous managing director, is now the NAC president/CEO.
 
CBC News profiled Regina Symphony music director Gordon Gerrard, who loves taking music directly to the people. Forward Currents, a festival he started last season, aims to expand the RSO's relevance through a focus on contemporary issues such as reconciliation and mental health. 
 
CBC's Sunday Edition featured a documentary about Robert Jarrett, a trumpeter and educator who was a pivotal mentor for TSO principal trumpeter Andrew McCandless. Kentucky's desegregation policies led McCandless to Jarrett, who is African American and taught at a predominantly black school. 
 
 
Financial news
 
Despite lagging attendance, the Canadian Opera Company finished the 2017-18 season with a small surplus, the Toronto Star reports. The COC endowment also has also grown significantly over the past decade, from $22.4 million to $43 million. 
 
The National Ballet of Canada reported a surplus for 2017-18, with healthy attendance numbers, successful premieres, and a fundraising campaign which increased the endowment by $5.8 million, the Toronto Star reports
 
The Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony also reported a surplus, with an increase in single ticket sales and a reduction to its accumulated deficit, The Record reports
 
Amidst a difficult negotiation cycle, Baltimore Symphony board chair Barbara Bozzuto (We need change to secure the orchestra's future) and Musicians' Committee co-chairs Greg Mulligan and Brian Prechtl (BSO management undervalues musicians) sparred publicly in opinion articles in the Baltimore Sun. 
 
 
Elsewhere
 
The Montreal Symphony released an independent expert's report on its workplace harassment policies, adopting recommendations aimed at tightening those policies. The press release was posted on the website Cision newswire
 
The 2019 edition of the Winnipeg Symphony's New Music Festival will celebrate winter with an ice amphitheatre, dubbed Pavilion Sub Zero, and instruments made of ice, the Free Press reports
 
 
Compiled by Matt Heller. Notice a correction, or a notable orchestra news story I missed? Please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Visit OCSM online at ocsm-omosc.orgon Facebook, or tweet us @ocsm-omosc.