TOCCATA / Tahoe Symphony Orchestra & Chorus has named Hannah von Wiehler as its next Artistic Director and Principal Conductor.

Von Wiehler, who spent eight years leading the United Kingdom’s Orchestra VOX and was also Assistant Conductor at the Opéra National de Bordeaux, will commence a three-season tenure beginning during the 2026-27 season. That will bring Tahoe its first outdoor opera performance. She also previously served as personal assistant to Valery Gergiev at the Mariinsky Theatre.

In her debut season, “HUMAN,” von Wiehler will explore what it means to be human in the age of artificial intelligence. The season’s centerpiece will be a four-concert signature series, BODY, ELEMENTS, MIND, and SOUL, performed alongside Händel’s “Messiah” and a summer program, “Rhapsody in Silver.” The season also introduces a Concerto Prize and a Composition Prize. However, perhaps most prominently, the company will present the region’s first outdoor opera, “Madama Butterfly.” The full season will be announced in the coming weeks, per an official press release.

“I want TOCCATA to be an archipelago, not an island,” von Wiehler said, per an official press release, “connected through genuine partnerships to the schools, museums, dance studios, and lakeside towns that make this region what it is.”