Industry News | April/May 2026: All the Winners Announced

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Appointments

On Feb. 10, Canadian Opera Company (COC) announced Ian Derrer as their next general director beginning July 1, 2026. He currently serves as general director and CEO of The Dallas Opera, a position he has held for the past eight years. Derrer previously served as general director of Kentucky Opera and spent eight years at Lyric Opera of Chicago as director of production and head of the rehearsal department. Derrer will succeed David C. Ferguson, who has served as COC’s general director since June 2024 after the sudden departure of Perryn Leech. Ferguson will be named general director emeritus at the end of the 2025–26 season.

Opéra de Québec has appointed Laurent Patenaude as its new executive director as of Feb. 2. Trained at Montreal’s Conservatoire de musique du Qué-bec in Montreal and Les Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal, he first made a name for himself as a musician before taking on management responsibilities with Les Violons du Roy and La Chapelle de Québec. Interim Chief Executive Officer Grégoire Legendre, will remain with the company through August to ensure a smooth transition.

Paavo Järvi has been appointed chief conductor & artistic advisor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), succeeding current Principal Conductor Edward Gardner at the start of the 2028–29 season. With an initial five-year contract, Järvi will be responsible for directing the orchestra’s centennial celebrations in 2032. Järvi currently serves as music director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, artistic director of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, and as the founder and artistic director of the Estonian Festival Orchestra.

Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra has appointed Canadian composer Kelly-Marie Murphy as its new composer-in-residence, beginning with the 2026–27 season. Murphy’s relationship with the orchestra began in 1995, when then-WSO Composer-in-Residence and Winnipeg New Music Festival co-founder Glenn Buhr invited her to have her piece This Is My Voice performed at the festival. The following day, former Music Director Bramwell Tovey commissioned her first orchestral work, which premiered the next year, marking the beginning of a creative partnership that has continued to flourish for three decades.

Royal Conservatory of Music announced that starting this summer, pianist James Anagnoson will be stepping back from his duties as dean of its post-secondary performance training school, The Glenn Gould School, a position he has held since 2007. Anagnoson will become dean emeritus when he leaves his current position. Violinist and violist Barry Shiffman, associate dean and head of chamber music, has been named dean designate, effective immediately. He will continue to lead the RCM’s pre-college program, The Taylor Academy, and will take on the role of dean of both schools as of July 20.

In the News

Record label ATMA Classique has announced new owners, Nicholas Choinière, Gabriel Felcarek, and Francis Choinière who founded GFN Productions in 2018 which presents more than 100 large-scale symphonic concerts across Canada each year. ATMA has a catalogue of 780 albums and releases dozens of new recordings each year by Canadian artists. Day-to-day operations will remain under the management of ATMA’s current team.

On March 18, Orchestre Métropolitain (OM) and Opéra de Montréal (OdeM) announced the official launch of their artistic partnership, formalizing a collaboration that has developed over the past 20 years. As part of the agreement, OdeM offers OM a minimum of three productions per season over the next three years. The partnership will include increased exchanges in artistic training between OdeM’s Atelier lyrique and OM’s Orchestral Conducting Academy. The inaugural larger project will be two concert performances of Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier in January 2027 under the direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The
international cast includes Diana Damrau, Emily D’Angelo, Erin Morley and Peter Rose.

Competitions 

On Feb. 21, Toronto City Opera announced the winners of its 2026 Macina Voice Competition. First place went to mezzo-soprano Camila Montefusco, second place and the audience prize to baritone Jamal Al Titi, and third place to mezzo-soprano
Hillary Tufford.

Young Artists Announced

Opéra de Montréal has announced four new additions to its Atelier lyrique training program for the 2026–27 season. Soprano Grace Budoloski, bass Onur Hilaloglu, tenor Jeremy Scinocca and director Caroline Yergeau will join returning members, mezzo-sopranos Tessa Fackelmann and Ellita Cho-Gagner, baritones Colin Mackey and Dante Mullin Santone, soprano Odile Portugais and pianist Tony Stauffer.

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