•
January 1 – The 75th anniversary
Vienna New Year's Concert by the
Vienna Philharmonic takes place at the Golden Hall of the
Musikverein, conducted by
Mariss Jansons. •
January 4 – The USA's
National Symphony Orchestra announces the appointment of
Gianandrea Noseda as its next music director, as of the 2017–2018 season, with an initial contract of 4 seasons. •
January 12 – Judge Sean H. Lane of the
United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York confirmed a reorganisation plan by NYCO Renaissance for revival of
New York City Opera. •
January 13 –
Chetham's School of Music announces the appointment of Alun Jones as its new Head, effective September 2016. •
January 14 •
Minnesota Opera announces the appointment of Ryan Taylor as its next president and general director, effective 1 May 2016, with an initial contract of 5 years. •
Los Angeles Opera announces the appointment of
Matthew Aucoin as its first-ever artist-in-residence, effective with the 2016–2017 season, with an initial term of 3 years. •
January 18 • The Artemis String Quartet announces the appointment of Anthea Kreston as its new second violinist. In parallel, Gregor Sigl, the quartet's second violinist, immediately takes the position of violist of the quartet. • The Boise Philharmonic Orchestra announces that music director Robert Franz is to conclude his music directorship of the orchestra at the close of the 2015–2016 season. •
January 20 •
Friedrich Haider announces his resignation as chief conductor of the Slovak National Theatre. • The
Berklee College of Music and the
Boston Conservatory sign an agreement to merge under the umbrella name of 'Berklee', with the Boston Conservatory location to take the name 'The Boston Conservatory at Berklee'. • The
Castleton Festival announces suspension of its 2016 summer festival season, citing financial difficulties. • NYCO Renaissance, the successor organisation to
New York City Opera, gives its first performance, of Puccini's
Tosca. •
January 21 – The
Cypress String Quartet announces that it is to disband in the summer of 2016, after 20 years as an ensemble. •
January 26 – The
Orkest van het Oosten announces that Jan Willem de Vriend is to conclude his tenure as chief conductor at the end of the 2016–2017 season. •
January 27 • The Léonie Sonning Music Foundation announces
Leonidas Kavakos as the recipient of the Léonie Sonning Music Prize 2017. • The
New York Philharmonic announces the appointment of
Jaap van Zweden as its next music director, effective with the 2018–2019 season, with an initial contract of 5 seasons. • The
Dallas Symphony Orchestra announces that Jaap van Zweden is to conclude his music directorship of the orchestra after the 2017–2018 season, and subsequently to take the title of conductor laureate as of the 2018–2019 season, for a scheduled 3-season period. •
January 28 •
Wigmore Hall live-streams performances for the first time. • The Opera di Firenze announces the appointment of
Fabio Luisi as its next music director, the first conductor to hold that title with the company, and in parallel, as director of the
Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, as of April 2018, with an initial contract of 5 years. In parallel,
Zubin Mehta, the company's principal conductor, is to take the title of principal conductor emeritus. •
January 29 • The Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation announces
Per Nørgård as the recipient of the 2016 Ernst von Siemens Music Prize. •
Oxford University announces the appointment of
Natalie Clein as Director of Musical Performance in the Music Faculty, with an initial term of 4 years. •
February 2 – The
Utah Symphony announces the appointment of Paul Meecham as the next president and chief executive officer of Utah Symphony and Utah Opera. •
February 3 – The
Boston Classical Orchestra board of trustees votes to file for bankruptcy. The orchestra subsequently cancels the remainder of its 2015–2016 season and ceases operations. •
February 4 • The
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra announces the appointment of
Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla as its next music director, effective September 2016, with an initial contract of 3 years. • A
New York Times report indicates that
Fabio Luisi is to stand down from the post of principal conductor of the
Metropolitan Opera after the 2016–2017 season. •
February 7 –
Saint Thomas Church,
New York City announces the appointment of Daniel Hyde as its next music director. •
February 8 – The
Long Island Philharmonic announces immediate cessation of operations and closure of the orchestra. •
February 10 • Decca Classics announces the appointment of Alexander Buhr as its next managing director. • The
Ojai Music Festival announces the appointments of its next series of music directors through 2021:
Vijay Iyer (2017 season),
Esa-Pekka Salonen (2018 season),
Barbara Hannigan (2019 season),
Patricia Kopatchinskaja (2020 season), and
Mitsuko Uchida (2021 season). •
February 11 – The
NDR Symphony Orchestra announces that it is to change its name to the
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, as of 15 April 2016, as a reflection of its scheduled future residency in the new Elbphilharmonie concert hall in January 2017. •
February 15 –
Vancouver Opera announces the appointment of Kim Gaynor as its next general director, effective 1 July 2016. •
February 18 • The
Tucson Symphony Orchestra announces the appointment of José Luis Gomez as its next music director, as of the 2017–2018 season. •
Charles Dutoit conducts the
Montreal Symphony Orchestra (OSM) in his first appearance with the OSM since his sudden 2002 resignation from the OSM music directorship. •
February 19 – The
Royal Philharmonic Society announces Sir
Peter Maxwell Davies as the recipient of its 102nd Gold Medal. •
February 24 •
Ian Bostridge is announced as the winner of the 60th Pol Roger
Duff Cooper Prize for non-fiction writing, for his book ''Schubert's Winter Journey: Anatomy of an Obsession''. •
Opera North announces the appointment of Aleksandar Marković as its next music director, effective with the 2016–2017 season. • The
London Mozart Players (LMP) announce the appointments of Nick Mallett as chair of the LMP Trust and of Julia Desbruslais as executive director of the LMP. • The Washington Chorus announces that Julian Wachner is to stand down as its music director after the 2016–2017 season. •
February 25 – The
Ulster Orchestra announces the appointment of Richard Wigley as its new managing director, with immediate effect. •
February 26 • The chorus of
English National Opera have voted to take industrial action to protest proposed contract reductions. • The
National Orchestra of Belgium announces the appointment of
Hugh Wolff as its next music director, effective with the 2017–2018 season • The city of
Bonn announces the appointment of
Dirk Kaftan as the next
Generalmusikdirektor of the
Beethoven Orchester Bonn, effective August 2017, with an initial contract of 5 years. •
February 29 – The
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra announces that Martin Hoffmann is to stand down as
Intendant (General Manager) of the orchestra after the end of the 2016–2017 season. •
March 1 – The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the
Konzerthausorchester Berlin, and the
Staatskapelle Berlin jointly perform a free concert for newly arrived refugees and their helpers at the
Philharmonie Berlin, under the banner of
Willkommen in unserer Mitte ('Welcome among us'), under the patronage of German chancellor
Angela Merkel. •
March 2 • The
Bridgewater Hall announces the appointment of Andrew Bolt as its new chief executive. • The
Trondheim Symphony Orchestra announces the appointment of
Han-na Chang as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2017–2018 season. •
Piotr Anderszewski announces that he is taking an undefined sabbatical from performing. His final concert before the start of his sabbatical was on 4 March 2016 in New York City. •
March 4 – The Theater Nordhausen and
Loh-Orchester Sondershausen announce the appointment of
Michael Helmrath as their next
Generalmusikdirektor (GMD), for 2 seasons, from the period of 2016–2018. •
March 9 – The
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden announces the appointment of William Spaulding as its next chorus director, effective with the 2016–2017 season. •
March 10 • The
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group announces the appointment of Stephan Meier as its next artistic director, effective August 2016. • The
Boston Symphony Orchestra announces the appointment of
Thomas Adès as its first-ever Artistic Partner, for a period of 3 years commencing in August 2016. •
March 14 –
Mid Wales Opera announces the appointments of Jonathan Lyness as its next music director, and of Richard Studer as its next artistic director, effective April 2017. •
March 15 – The Landeskapelle Eisenach announces the appointment of Andreas Fellner as its new chief conductor, effective with the 2016–2017 season. •
March 18 – The chorus of English National Opera (ENO) announced that its union, Equity, negotiated with ENO management a guaranteed annual pay package of £35,000, rather than the management-proposed reduction to £30,685. The ENO chorus subsequently did not resort to industrial action in protest at the earlier proposal, as had been decided on 26 February. •
March 21 – The
Gloucester Cathedral Choir announces that it is to recruit girl choristers for the first time in its history, in April 2016. •
March 22 –
Mark Wigglesworth announces his resignation as music director of English National Opera, effective at the end of the 2015–2016 season. •
March 24 – The
Orchestre national de Lille announces the appointment of Alexandre Bloch as its new music director, effective with the 2016–2017 season. •
March 29 – Jeff Melanson resigns as president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the
Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO). The orchestra announces that
Sonia Baxendale is to be the TSO's interim CEO. Both actions are with immediate effect. •
April 5 – The
Orchestre National de Lyon announces that
Leonard Slatkin is to stand down as its music director after the 2016–2017 season, and subsequently to take the title of
Directeur musical honoraire. •
April 13 • The City of London Festival announces that it is ceasing operations. •
NorrlandsOperan announces the appointment of Elim Chan as its next chief conductor, effective in 2017, with an initial contract of 3 years. • The
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra announces that
Cornelius Meister is to stand down as its chief conductor in 2018, at the end of his current contract. •
April 14 – The
Metropolitan Opera announces that
James Levine is to retire as its music director at the end of the 2015=2016 season, and subsequently to take the title of music director emeritus. •
April 18 • The
Royal Northern College of Music announces the appointment of Sir
John Tomlinson as its next president, for a term of 5 years, effective January 2017. • The Göttingen Symphony Orchestra announces that Christoph-Mathias Mueller is to conclude his chief conductorship of the orchestra after the close of the 2017–2018 season. •
April 19 • The city of
Wuppertal announces the appointment of
Julia Jones as the next General Music Director (
Generalmusikdirektorin) of the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra (Sinfonieorchesters Wuppertal), which also encompasses the music directorship of the Wuppertal Opera (
Wuppertaler Bühnen), with an initial contract for 3 years, effective with the 2016–2017 season. • The
RIAS Kammerchor announces the appointment of Justin Doyle as its next chief conductor and artistic director, effective with the 2017–2018 season. •
April 20 – The
Scottish Chamber Orchestra announces the appointment of Gavin Reid as its next chief executive, effective 29 August 2016. In parallel, Reid is to stand down as director of the
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra on 28 August 2016. •
April 23 – The London Woodwind Orchestra, the first professional woodwind orchestra in the UK, gives its debut performance at
St John's Smith Square. •
April 29 – English National Opera announces the appointment of Daniel Kramer as its next artistic director, effective 1 August 2016. •
May 5 – The
Bayerischer Rundfunk announces the appointment of Ivan Repušić as the next chief conductor of the
Munich Radio Orchestra, effective in 2017. •
May 12 – The
European Union Youth Orchestra announces that it is to cease operations as of 1 September 2016, because of a lack of financial support from the
European Union. •
May 15 – Sheku Kanneh-Mason wins the 2016
BBC Young Musician of the Year award. •
May 17 –
Itzhak Perlman announces via his Facebook page the cancellation of his scheduled 18 May 2016 appearance with the
North Carolina Symphony, in protest at House Bill 2 (North Carolina General Assembly 2016 Second Extra Session). •
May 18 • The
Hessische Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst announces the appointment of
Patrick Lange as the next
Generalmusikdirektor of the Staatstheater Wiesbaden, as of the 2017–2018 season. •
San Francisco Opera announces that
Nicola Luisotti is to conclude his music directorship of the company at the close of the 2017–2018 season. •
May 20 –
Oliver Knussen receives The Queen's Medal for Music 2015, in a private audience with HRH Queen
Elizabeth II. •
May 24 •
Sotheby's auctions a contract signed in 1829 by music editor
Adolf Bernhard Marx and publisher
Adolf Martin Schlesinger to publish
Johann Sebastian Bach's
St Matthew Passion. • Universal Classics USA announces the appointment of Graham Parker as its next president. •
May 25 – The
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra announces the appointment of
Santtu-Matias Rouvali as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2017–2018 season, with an initial contract of 4 years. •
June 1 – The European Commission announces funding of 600K € for the European Union Youth Orchestra, as a short-term solution to prevent the pending closure of the orchestra. •
June 2 • The
Metropolitan Opera announces the appointment of
Yannick Nézet-Séguin as its next music director, effective with the 2020–2021 season, with an initial contract of 5 seasons. • The
Grand Rapids Symphony announces the appointment of Marcelo Lehninger as its next music director, effective with the 2016–2018 season, with an initial contract of 5 years. •
June 6 – The
University of Cambridge announces the appointment of the Ligeti Quartet as the first holders of the Cambridge Chamber Music Residency. •
June 8 – The
Tiroler Landestheater and the Innsbruck Symphony Orchestra announce that Francesco Angelico is to conclude his chief conductorship of both institutions after the 2016–2017 season. •
June 12 – Queen's Birthday Honours •
Alison Balsom is awarded an
Order of the British Empire (OBE). • Brian Lang,
Colin Lawson,
Paul Lewis,
John McLeod are each made a
Commander of the Order of the British Empire. •
June 13 •
Radio France announces the appointment of
Emmanuel Krivine as the next music director of the
Orchestre National de France, effective with the 2017–2018 season, with an initial contract of 3 years. • The
Royal Albert Hall announces that Chris Cotton, its current chief executive, is to retire. •
June 15 – The Ministry of Science, Research and Art
Baden-Württemberg announces the appointment of Cornelius Meister as the next
Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) of the
Stuttgart State Opera and of the
Stuttgart State Orchestra, effective with the 2018–2019 season, with an initial contract of six seasons. •
June 23 • The Mieczysła Karłowicz Philharmonic Orchestra announces the appointment of Rune Bergmann as its next artistic director and principal conductor, effective with the 2016–2017 season. • The
Kennedy Center Honors announces its list of 2016 honorees, which includes
Martha Argerich. •
June 24 • Never heard during the composer's lifetime,
Still Point by
Daphne Oram receives its world premiere at St John's Smith Square, London, 67 years after Oram composed the work. • The
Aix-en-Provence Festival announces the appointment of Pierre Audi as its next artistic director, effective 2018. In parallel, Audi is to stand down as artistic director of De Nederlandse Opera. •
June 26 – The Cypress String Quartet gives their final concert in San Francisco, at the Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera, before formally disbanding. •
June 27 –
Kentucky Opera announces the appointment of Ian Derrer as its new general director, effective 1 September 2016. •
June 29 –
Opera de Montreal announces the appointment of Patrick Corrigan as its next general director, effective September 2016. •
June 30 •
Barbara Hannigan and Gerald Fagan are each appointed a
Member of the Order of Canada. • The
New Jersey Symphony Orchestra announces the appointment of Gabriel van Aalst as its new president and chief executive officer, effective October 2016. •
July 9 – The first complete performance of the Cello Concerto of
Herbert Howells occurs at Gloucester Cathedral as part of the Cheltenham Festival. •
July 11 – The
Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra announces the appointment of Rune Bergmann as its next music director, effective with the 2017–2018 season. •
July 13 – The
Guildhall School of Music and Drama announces the appointment of Lynne Williams as its next principal, effective in 2017. •
July 17 – The
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg gives its final concert in Freiburg, before its scheduled merger with the
Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra. •
July 26 – The Konstanzer Gemeinderat announces the appointment of Ari Rasilainen as the next chief conductor of the Südwestdeutschen Philharmonie, effective with the 206–2017 season, with an initial contract of 5 years. •
July 28 – The
Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra gives its final concert in London at the
Royal Albert Hall as part of
The Proms, before its scheduled merger with the
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg. •
August 2 – The
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra announces the appointment of Dominic Parker as its new director, in succession to Gavin Reid. •
August 18 • The Finnish National Opera and Ballet announces the appointment of
Esa-Pekka Salonen as its first-ever Artist in Association, for the period from September 2016 to 2021. • The
Toronto Symphony Orchestra announces the appointment of Gary Hanson as its interim chief executive officer, effective 26 September 2016, with a contract of up to 2 years. •
August 23 – The
Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra announces the appointment of Lahav Shani as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2018–2019 season, with an initial contract of 5 years. •
September 7 – Never publicly performed during the composer's lifetime, the
BBC Philharmonic gave the premiere of the Symphony No 6 of Arnold Cooke at the BBC Philharmonic Studio, MediaCityUK, in Salford Quays. •
September 8 – The musicians of the
Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra take industrial action and go on strike, following a breakdown in contract negotiations between the orchestra's management and musicians. •
September 9 • The Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini announces the appointment of Alpesh Chauhan as its next principal conductor, effective September 2017. • The
Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music announces the appointment of Cristian Măcelaru as its new music director, with immediate effect. •
September 12 • The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden announces the appointment of Oliver Mears as its next Director of Opera, effective March 2017. • The
Colorado Symphony announces the appointment of
Brett Mitchell as its next music director, effective with the 2017–2018 season, with an initial contract of 4 years. •
September 16 – The
Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern announces the appointment of
Pietari Inkinen as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2017–2018 season, with an initial contract of 4 years. •
September 22 • The
Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra announces the appointments of
Thierry Fischer as principal guest conductor and of
Markus Stenz as 'conductor-in-residence', both effective January 2017, with initial contracts of 3 years, following the resignation of Myung-whun Chung as music director of the orchestra at the end of 2015. • The
SWR Symphonieorchester, formed from the merger of the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg and the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, gives its first concert at the Liederhalle, Stuttgart, under the direction of
Péter Eötvös. •
September 27 – The
San Francisco Symphony announces that
Brent Assink is to stand down as the orchestra's executive director in 2017. •
September 30 • The musicians of the
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra take industrial action and go on strike, for only the second time in the orchestra's history. • The musicians of the
Philadelphia Orchestra take industrial action and go on strike, one hour before its scheduled Opening Night Gala concert. • The management of the Montevideo Philharmonic Orchestra informed its musicians of the appointment of Ligia Amadio as its next artistic director, effective 2017. The orchestra formally announced Amadio's appointment on 23 December 2016. •
October 1 – The
Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra announces the appointment of Andrea Battistoni as its new chief conductor, with immediate effect. •
October 2 – The musicians of the
Philadelphia Orchestra vote 73–11 to ratify a new contract proposed by orchestra management, ending the industrial action initiated on 30 September. •
October 5 • The
Juilliard School announces that its current president, Joseph Polisi, is to stand down from the post in June 2018. • Five former members of the
Hilliard Ensemble reunite for a benefit concert for Music for Open Ears, in London at St Paul's Church, Covent Garden. •
October 6 • The
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra announces the appointment of Andrea Zietzschmann as its new
Intendantin (managing director), effective 1 September 2017. •
Les Violons du Roy announces the appointment of Jonathan Cohen as its next music director, effective with the 2017–2018 season. •
October 18 • The
Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin announces that
Ivan Fischer is to conclude his tenure as its chief conductor after the end of the 2017–2018 season. • The Orchestre symphonique de l'Estuaire announces the appointment of Dina Gilbert as its next music director, effective June 2017. •
October 20 – The
Victoria Symphony announces the appointment of Christian Kluxen as its next music director, effective with the 2017–2018 season, with an initial contract of 4 years. •
October 21 •
English National Opera announces the appointment of
Martyn Brabbins as its new music director, with immediate effect, with an initial contract through October 2020. • The
Cincinnati May Festival announces the appointment of
Juanjo Mena as its new principal conductor, effective with the 2017–2018 season, with an initial contract of 3 years. •
October 24 – The
Royal Albert Hall announces the appointment of Craig Hassall as its next chief executive, effective 2017. •
October 25 – Originally completed in 1997, the opera
Jane Eyre by composer
John Joubert and librettist Kenneth Birkin received its world premiere in a revised version in 2 acts, at the Ruddock Performing Arts Centre, Birmingham. •
October 26 • The
Interlochen Center for the Arts announces the appointment of Trey Devey as its next president, effective June 2017. • The
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra announces that Trey Devey is to stand down as its president in April 2017. •
October 29 – The Elbland Philharmonie Sachsen announces the appointment of Ekkehard Klemm as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2017–2018 season. •
November 3 – The Basque National Orchestra announces the appointment of Robert Treviño as its next music director, effective with the 2017–2018 season, with an initial contract of 3 seasons. •
November 4 – The UK government announced withdrawal of funding support for the proposed new London Concert Hall. •
November 15 – The Australian Festival of Chamber Music announces the appointment of
Kathryn Stott as its next artistic director, effective in 2018, with an initial contract of 3 years. •
November 18 –
Michigan Opera Theatre announces the appointment of
Stephen Lord to the newly created position of principal conductor, with an initial contract through the 2018–2019 season, with immediate effect. •
November 23 – The
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra announces the ratification of a 5-year agreement by the orchestra musicians, ending their industrial action. •
November 25 – The Royal Danish Opera (
Det Kongelige Kapel) announces the appointment of
Alexander Vedernikov as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2017–2018 season. •
November 27 – In a letter to the mayor of Dresden,
Michael Sanderling announces that he is to stand down as chief conductor of the
Dresden Philharmonic after the end of his current contract in 2019, in protest at learning of proposed culture budget reductions via media reports instead of being informed directly from the civic authorities. •
November 28 – The Grawemeyer Foundation announces
Andrew Norman as the winner of the 2017 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, for his orchestral work
Play. •
November 29 – The autograph manuscript of the
Symphony No. 2 of
Gustav Mahler is sold at Sotheby's (London) for £4,546,250. •
December 1 – The Metropolitan Opera gives its first performance of ''
L'Amour de loin'' of
Kaija Saariaho, the first opera by a female composer to be staged at the Metropolitan Opera since 1903, and the second opera by a female composer ever to be presented in the history of the company. •
December 2 – At the
Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, the
Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, conducted by
Valery Gergiev, gave the second-ever performance of ''Pogrebal'naya Pesnya'' (Funeral Song) by
Igor Stravinsky, following the rediscovery of the work in 2015. •
December 6 – The
Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz announces the appointment of
Anthony Bramall as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2017–2018 season. •
December 7 •
Northern Ireland Opera announces the appointment of Walter Sutcliffe as its next artistic director, effective February 2017. • The musicians of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra approved a new labour agreement with the orchestra's management, contracted through 2020, after an anonymous donor made a gift of US$700K toward musician salaries. •
December 8 •
Dmitri Hvorostovsky announces that he is withdrawing from all of his currently scheduled opera performances 'for the foreseeable future', because of health concerns, to focus on concert and recital work, and health treatment. • The
Barenboim–Said Akademie opens in Berlin. •
December 10 – The Metropolitan Opera presents ''
L'Amour de loin'', by
Kaija Saariaho, as part of the
Metropolitan Opera Live in HD series to cinemas, the first opera by a female composer, and the first opera conducted by a female conductor (
Susanna Mälkki), in the series. •
December 12 – The
San Francisco Symphony announces that it is cancelling its scheduled April 2017 concert appearances in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA, in protest at House Bill 2 (North Carolina General Assembly 2016 Second Extra Session). •
December 13 – The
Queen's Hall, Edinburgh announces that its chief executive, Adrian Harris, is to retire at the end of December 2016. •
December 19 • The
Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg announces the appointment of
Riccardo Minasi as its next chief conductor, effective September 2017. • The Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen announces the appointment of Fawzi Haimor as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2017–2018 season, with an initial contract of 3 years. •
December 20 – The
St. Louis Symphony announces that
David Robertson is to conclude his tenure as its music director at the end of the 2018–2019 season. •
December 21 – The Austrian Ministry of Culture simultaneously announced that Dominique Meyer is to conclude his tenure as general director (
Intendant) of the
Vienna State Opera at the end of the 2019–2020 season, and that Bogdan Roscic is to be the new
Intendant of the Vienna State Opera effective with the 2020–2021 season. •
December 23 – The
Philharmonia Orchestra announces the appointment of Helen Sprott as its new managing director, effective April 2017. •
December 26 — The
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra announces that
Zubin Mehta is to stand down as its music director as of October 2019. •
December 29 – The Orquesta de Cámara de Valdivia announces the appointment of
Emmanuele Baldini as its new music director, effective in 2017. •
December 30 • New Year's Honours 2017 • Dame
Evelyn Glennie is made a
Companion of Honour. •
Jeffrey Tate and
Bryn Terfel are each made a
Knight Bachelor. • Lennox Mackenzie and Stephen Maddock are each made an
Officer of the Order of the British Empire. •
Iestyn Davies and Anthony Forbes are each made a
Member of the Order of the British Empire. • Order of Canada •
Russell Braun and
Howard Shore are each appointed an
Officer of the Order of Canada. •
Michael Schade receives an honorary appointment as an Officer of the Order of Canada. ==New works==