1. On November 24 and 25, KENT NAGANO and L'ORCHESTRE SYMPHONIQUE DE MONTRÉAL launch the 2009 Montreal Bach Festival with two performances of Bach's St. Matthew Passion at Place des Arts. Performances will be preceded by pre-concert lectures from musicologist Alexandra Scheibler, artistic director of the festival. On November 22, tenor Christoph Prégardien, who sings the Passion's Evangelist, will offer a master class at 2:00 P.M. at Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, which will be followed by a roundtable discussion moderated by Kelly Rice of CBC Radio. For information, visit www.bach-academie-montreal.com.

2. On August 8, DEBORAH VOIGT received an honorary Doctor of Music degree at the University of South Carolina's summer commencement exercises for baccalaureate, master's and professional degree recipients. An audience of some 8,000 from all eight of USC's campuses heard Voigt's address to the graduates in the Columbia, SC campus's Colonial Life Arena.

The SOLTI FOUNDATION U.S., established in memory of the legendary conductor by his widow, Lady Valerie Solti, and their two daughters, announced in September that it had awarded four 2009 grants to young American conductors. ERIK NIELSEN, 32, who serves as kapellmeister at Frankfurt Opera, was bestowed the $25,000 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award, which was given for only the second time in the Foundation's history. Recipients of the Foundation's Career Assistance Awards are JAMES FEDDECK, 25, assistant conductor with the Cleveland Orchestra; KELLY KUO, 35, assistant conductor with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra; and CASE SCAGLIONE, 27, music director of Los Angeles's YMF Debut Orchestra.

3. In late September, LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO marked the eightieth anniversary of the CIVIC OPERA HOUSE by opening two new in-house restaurants. Both venues, open only to Lyric patrons who hold tickets for that day's performance, will offer pre-performance dining, plus intermission and post-performance refreshments. The SARAH AND PEER PEDERSEN ROOM, named in honor of Lyric Opera board member Peer Pedersen and his late wife, faces Wacker Drive at street level in an area that formerly housed a bank. FLORIAN OPERA BISTRO, named for longtime Lyric production sponsor and board member Sonia Florian, occupies the east end of the Dress Circle level on the third floor of the opera house.

4. This year, PETER MARK celebrates his thirty-fifth anniversary season as VIRGINIA OPERA's founding general director and continuing artistic director. The maestro, who led his 100th Virginia Opera production with last season's Il Trovatore, has conducted more than 700 performances for the company since his 1975 debut there. Virginia Opera's thirty-fifth-anniversary season opened in October with Mark leading La Bohème; it continues with La Fille du Régiment, Don Giovanni and Porgy and Bess.

SING FOR HOPE, which mobilizes a roster of more than six-hundred professional artists in volunteer-service programs to benefit communities in need, will present its 2009 SING FOR HOPE GALA on November 21 at Lincoln Center's Kaplan Penthouse. Social and cultural leaders slated to be honored at the event include 2009 Presidential Medal of Honor Recipient, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Sing for Hope board member MUHAMMAD YUNUS; RENÉE FLEMING; JANE FONDA; and Lincoln Center president REYNOLD LEVY. All proceeds from the event — which will feature donor artists from the Metropolitan Opera and Broadway — assist in the organization's goal of bringing art to underserved schools and hospitals. More information can be found at SingForHope.org.

5. Bass-baritone MALCOLM RIVERS, who sang Alberich in SEATTLE OPERA's first Ring in 1975, returned to Seattle in August to take in the company's current mounting of the cycle (see In Review, p. 50). Rivers, who sang his last Seattle Ring in 1983, most recently performed Alberich at Oxford in spring 2009.

Josephson, Deonarine and the Gilfrys in Santa Fe © Ken Howard 2009