Kurt Masur (born 1927), the former conductor of Leipzig's Gewandhaus Orchestra and reluctant East German revolutionary leader, now conducts the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. An internationally-acclaimed conductor, Masur added the London Philharmonic...

Lorin Maazel will close out his seven years as music director of the New York Philharmonic by conducting Mahler's "Symphony of a Thousand.""It seems to be an appropriate closing statement," Maazel said at a news conference Thursday announcing the orchestra's 2008-09 season.The Philharmonic's 167th season...

Conducting an orchestra may be the most mysterious profession. All successful maestros must have an acute ear for musical sound, a mastery of the score that finds underlying order among dizzying combinations of notes, and an ability to harness 100 players and lead them toward...

“All these great soloists and conductors are family,” said Avi Shoshani, the secretary general of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. “Everyone I invited accepted immediately, and they all agreed to perform without a fee. This is the only orchestra in the world that could pull this...

Classical music may be a last bastion of formality, but practically everyone at the New York Philharmonic calls its new music director just "Alan."Alan Gilbert, a 40-year-old native New Yorker, was introduced Wednesday as one of the orchestra's youngest leaders. He follows what he called...