A new Generalmusikdirektor has been announced in Wuppertal.

It’s Julia Jones, 54, sometime principal conductor at Basle Opera and Lisbon.

She’s a prophet without honour in her own country, having conducted only once at Covent Garden.

From a US Government release:

Washington, DC – Less than a month after the historic visit by President Barack Obama, a U.S. government cultural mission to Cuba will take place from April 18-21, 2016. The President described his trip as extending the hand of friendship to the Cuban people, and this delegation, including some of America’s most distinguished writers, artists, musicians, as well as arts and cultural leaders, will continue this historic collaboration with the Cuban people.

The delegation includes: the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) co-chairs George Stevens, Jr. and Margo Lion; National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Jane Chu; National Endowment for the Humanities Chairman William Adams; and Smithsonian Secretary David Skorton. U.S. artists joining the delegation include: Joshua Bell, Adele Chatfield-Taylor, Martha Clarke, John Guare, DJ IZ, Lourdes Lopez, Larisa Martinez, Dave Matthews, Kal Penn, Smokey Robinson, Usher, Alfre Woodard, and John Lloyd Young.

In Cuba, the mission will build on President Obama’s recent visit and the progress made toward the normalization of relations with Cuba, in particular to advance deeper cooperation around the common bonds of our heritages – arts and culture – and identify greater opportunities for people-to-people artistic and cultural collaborations. The visit itinerary will include both lively scholarly and artistic event and exchanges, as well as meetings with Cuban government officials and directors of cultural institutions. […] Support for the delegation’s visit to Cuba has been generously provided by Airbnb, American Airlines, The Betsy-South Beach, Ford Foundation, Inktel Holdings Corp., and Libra Capital. U.S. American Airlines is the airline partner of the 2016 U.S. Cultural Mission to Cuba. The Center for Democracy in the Americas worked with the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities to organize the itinerary.