Conductor Lopez-Cobos Dead at 78;

Phoenix Chorale names finalists for AD.

It’s “This Week in Classical Music”, an update on what’s happening in the classical Music world; I’m Randy Kinkel.

The Spanish conductor Jesús López Cobos has died in Berlin at the age of 78. López Cobos held several music director positions at leading orchestras throughout a long and successful career.

He was the Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra from 1986 to 2001, making several highly-regarded recordings for Telarc, and later became their Conductor Emeritus.

Other positions included General Music Director of the Deutsche Opera in Berlin, Music Director of the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra and Music Director of the Teatro Real in Madrid

The Grammy-winning Phoenix Chorale has announced four finalists  in its search for a new Artistic Director  

Each finalist will lead a concert weekend in the 2018/19 Season, which is also the Phoenix Chorale's 60th Anniversary.

Here are the finalists:

James K. Bass is the Director of Choral Studies for the Herb Alpert School of Music at UCLA, Artistic Director of the Long Beach Camerata Singers

Christopher Gabbitas,   fifteen year  member of The King's Singers,

Brian A. Schmidt, founder and Artistic Director of the South Dakota Chorale in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Associate Professor of Choral Music at Baylor University;

Hong Kong Native Jenny Wong, who’s one of the youngest conductors to win two consecutive World Champion titles at the World Choir Games. She is currently the Associate Conductor of the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

Each finalist will come to Phoenix and lead the ensemble in rehearsals and concerts and will meet with the board, staff, singers, and the Phoenix community over the course of their concert series.

The final selection for the Artistic Director position is expected in Spring of 2019, with the new Director taking the helm in the 2019 Season.

For more on these and other items and events, go to the website, K-B-A-C-H dot org; Be listening each week at this time for another update. Follow us on Facebook and twitter, and also listen every weekday at Noon for the Most Wanted Hour with Linda Cassidy, playing your top 100 classical hits.  I’m Randy Kinkel for KBACH’s “This Week in Classical Music”; Member supported 89.5 KBAQ Phoenix and HD, a service of Rio Salado College and Arizona State University.