As medici.tv’s Chief Content Officer I spend a lot of time thinking about classical music—and a lot of time on the internet. Here’s my selection of the top four news items you need to see this week if you want to stay in the know.
View author's page
Reading time estimated : 3 min
Elim Chan is the new Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony (San Francisco Classical Voice)
Conductor Elim Chan is the new future Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony. Following in the footsteps of Esa-Pekka Salonen and Michael Tilson Thomas, Chan will be the first woman to lead the orchestra, which is one of the top ensembles in the United States, and will take up her role at the start of the 2027/2028 season. Born in Hong Kong, Chan completed her musical studies—including a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Michigan—in America. In an official statement, Chan said: “The Bay Area has long been the place where the future gets invented. This orchestra carries that same restless, forward-looking energy in everything it does. Stepping into the rich legacy of my distinguished predecessors, it is this exact spirit that I want to nurture and explore every single night, together with these incredible musicians.”
We’ve been following Maestra Chan’s work for over a decade and can’t wait to see what she does at the helm of one of the world’s top orchestras. Here she is performing Tchaikovsky’s Spanish Dance from the Swan Lake, Suite Op. 20a, with another fantastic ensemble, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra!
From Pomp and Circumstance to the Graduation March (WQXR)
Schools across the United States are gearing up for graduation season and for the overwhelming majority of them, the soundtrack is likely to feature Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance No. 1, otherwise known as “Graduation March.” WQXR published a quick primer this week on how this piece became such an unexpectedly important part of American pop culture.
Soprano Dame Felicity Lott passed away (Gramophone)
Dame Felicity Lott, one of the UK’s greatest and most charismatic sopranos, passed away at the age of 79. Lott will be particularly remembered for her fine interpretations of Mozart, Handel, and Richard Strauss. “Flott,” as she was often affectionately called, left behind an impressive legacy of recordings.
“‘Really entertaining in a horrible way’: the indestructible appeal of Tosca” (The Guardian)
I really enjoyed Flora Willson’s exploration in the Guardian of what makes Tosca such a resounding success. While today we know it as one of opera’s greatest hits, Tosca has also received its fair share of criticism, particularly when it premiered 125 years ago. From the inclusion of real world sounds that irked turn-of-the-century audiences to the “overwhelming melodic appeal, combined with a sexanddeath nail-biter of a plot” that make it accessible to audiences today, Puccini’s melodrama never fails to spark debate.
