Around the Music Festival

The board of directors of the New York City Opera has decided to dismiss general director Michael Capasso and promote music director and principal conductor Constantine Orbelian to succeed him. Orbelian had been appointed music director and principal conductor in 2021.

Orbelian was born in San Francisco and is 68 years old. His parents were Russian and Armenian Americans, and his father’s uncle was the famous Armenian composer. He began learning the piano at a young age, and made his debut with the San Francisco Symphony at the age of 11. He later graduated from the Juilliard School of Music and went on to have a successful career as a pianist.

He later switched to conducting. In 1991, he became the music director of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, and attracted attention as the first American to become the music director of a Russian ensemble. In addition to the City Opera, he has also served as the principal conductor of the Kaunas Symphony Orchestra in Lithuania, and as the general and artistic director of the Yerevan Opera Theatre in Armenia.

The City Opera was founded in 1943 and was once a place where young singers such as Placido Domingo and José Carreras performed, but it went bankrupt in 2013. Since 2016, it has been operating in line with a restructuring plan, and since 2022 it has only been performing recitals and open-air performances. However, there are also plans to collaborate with the English company Opera Holland Park to stage Mascagni’s opera “Isabeau” in the future.

PHOTO：Kauno miesto simfoninis orkestras