Maestro Arts

23/06/2026

New online: Steven Osborne's performances of Ravel and Ryan Wigglesworth piano concertos last week at the Aldeburgh Festival, with Wigglesworth conducting BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, are now on BBC Sounds.

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ryan Wigglesworth and Steven Osborne perform at Snape.

23/06/2026

News 💥📰 Elena Schwarz and WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln have been awarded the Opus Klassik 2027 for Best World Premiere Recording for their acclaimed recording of music by French composer Elsa Barraine, on CPO.

The release is the first commercial recording of Barraine's First and Second Symphonies, written in 1931 and 1938 respectively. Barraine (1910–1999) entered the Paris Conservatoire aged 12 and studied composition with Paul Dukas, winning the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1929. A committed anti-fascist, she joined the French Resistance during the Second World War, and after the war became an important pedagogue, teaching analysis and sight-reading at the Paris Conservatoire, but her work has remained largely neglected.

Diapason awarded the release a Diapason d'Or and wrote of it: '[Barraine's] two symphonies, rescued from oblivion by Elena Schwarz in Cologne, prove to be in no way inferior to those of Roussel, Milhaud, or Honegger. And yet, this is their first recording.'

The Times selected the CD among the best of 2025 and wrote, 'Barraine had a real gift for music of anxiety and mourning. Not that this in any way is a depressing album: how could it be with unfamiliar music of this stature, and performances of this colour and fire?'

The prize will be awarded at a ceremony in Berlin's Konzerthaus in October.

19/06/2026

NEWS 💥🗞 Aaron Azunda Akugbo has been chosen as an ECHO Rising Star for the 2027–28 season. The programme is presented by the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO), which represents 23 concert venues across 14 countries, and provides opportunities for exceptional emerging artists to perform in these venues.

Artists are nominated by the artistic teams of ECHO member halls, based on discussions during its annual artistic meeting, which took place at Athens' Megaron from in May. Akugbo was nominated by Palau de la Música Catalana, B:Music, Barbican Centre, Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam and The Glasshouse International Music Centre.

As part of the scheme, he will perform in leading concert halls across Europe throughout the 2027–28 season, as well as joining educational activities and taking part in workshops and mentoring opportunities, and he will be given a bursary to commission a new work from a composer of his own choice.

Previous recipients of the ECHO Rising Star include Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Jörg Widmann, Janine Jansen, Igor Levit and Renaud Capuçon.

19/06/2026

Matthew Straw discusses his role as conductor on Gypsy (directed by Laurent Pelly, with dialogues translated by Agathe Mélinand), and looks back at his assistantship at Opéra national du Rhin.

16/06/2026

Elena Urioste opened the Marylebone Music Festival with a concert at The Wallace Collection.

13/06/2026

Barbara Wysocka directs Roméo et Juliette for Teatr Wielki - Opera Narodowa, opening tonight, and conducted by Robert Houssart.

Opera in 5 acts | Libretto: Jules Barbier and Michel Carré after William Shakespeare | In the original French with Polish and English surtitles

12/06/2026

Steven Osborne is a Featured Artist at this year's Aldeburgh Festival, which starts this weekend. He performs piano concertos by Ravel and Ryan Wigglesworth, who also conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (14 June), and gives a recital of Crumb and Feldman (18 June), as well as a lecture on What Does Music Mean? (16 June) and a late-night jazz concert (19 June).

Main image: Steven Osborne © Britten Pears Arts

12/06/2026

NEWS 💥🗞 We are happy to welcome conductor Maayan Franco to our roster. Born in Israel in 1998, Franco has rapidly established himself on the international stage. A graduate of the Thelma Yelin School of the Arts in Tel Aviv, he was appointed Associate Conductor at Vienna Volksoper in 2025, shortly after making his debut there conducting Sondheim's Follies.

A committed advocate for contemporary music, Franco was a Lucerne Festival Conducting Fellow in 2021, working with Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra, and made his debut with Ensemble Modern at Oper Frankfurt in 2022. He works regularly with Ensemble Meitar and Ensemble 21, exploring new music programmes.

Franco's career has been shaped by a close collaboration with Ilan Volkov, in projects with groups such as Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Wien Modern and Ensemble intercontemporain. At just 20 years old, he prepared ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien at Wien Modern festival and conducted off-stage music at the BBC Proms.

In 2023, he made his debut with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at Volkov's Tectonics Festival. Reviewing the performance, The Scotsman wrote, ‘The BBC SSO strings gave a searingly intense account under conductor Maayan Franco, who captured the piece’s big emotions in expansive yet precise gestures.’

Franco is currently preparing Tales of Hoffmann at Vienna Volksoper, and next season conducts Ronja Räubertochter, Die Zauberflöte and Lass uns die Welt vergessen – Volksoper 1938 there.

https://www.maestroarts.com/news/ma-signs-conductor-maayan-franco