“Concert Artists Guild (CAG) has added a new category of young artists to its roster: conductors,” writes Susan Elliott in Wednesday’s (10/6) Musical America (subscription required). “The 70-year-old organization usually selects its artists, all instrumentalists, from an annual competition. But conductors, for practical reasons, are to be chosen on the basis of input from the field and a ‘Conductors Advisory Circle’ … of musicians and administrators…. The new conductors program is a collaboration with the U.K.’s Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT)…. The new CAG members are Argentine/Italian Michelle Di Russo, assistant conductor of the North Carolina Symphony and interim director of orchestras at Cornell University; Kyle Dickson, a Salonen conducting fellow at the Colburn Conservatory and as such an assistant conductor of the San Francisco Symphony; and Ben Manis, former cover conductor for the St. Louis and Dallas symphonies, current resident conductor of the Houston Grand Opera. ‘As we come out of the pandemic, we believe that it is more critical than ever to provide support for young conductors, which is something that has historically been lacking in our field,’ said [CAG President Tanya] Bannister in a statement.”
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