These eight performers and artists broke away from the pack this year, delighting us and making us think.
There was one breakout for classical music. Regards, Len
Dalia Stasevska at the Hollywood Bowl.Credit...Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times, via Getty Images
The conductor Dalia Stasevska’s star has been rising since she graduated from the esteemed Helsinki conservatory Sibelius Academy in 2012. From there, she become an assistant to Paavo Järvi at the Orchestre de Paris, and in 2019, she secured the principal guest conductor position at the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Britain. In 2020, she became the chief conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra in Finland.
This year, Stasevska, 38 — who grew up in Estonia and Finland, the daughter of a Finnish mother and Ukrainian father — led the New York Philharmonic in a celebrated series of concerts. She conducted Wang Lu’s “Surge,” in its world premiere, “with verve, commitment and, above all, clarity,” our critic Joshua Barone wrote. Claire Chase, a prominent flutist and educator, has described her as a “supernova.”
Since 2022, Stasevska has also become known for her vocal criticism of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In addition to fund-raising efforts, she has driven trucks of supplies into the beleaguered nation. “I can’t save Ukraine by playing music, but I can use my mouth and speak out, and I can act,” she told us. “We can’t just hide behind our virtues. There comes a time for action.”