Richard Hickox has been announced as the new Principal Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. He will take over from Mark Wigglesworth in September 2000 and will conduct a minimum of 20 concerts a year including 2 BBC Proms and appearances in London’s Barbican Centre as well as concerts in the Orchestra’s home city of Cardiff and throughout Wales. Major touring and recording projects are also in the pipeline. He remains Music Director of the City of London Sinfonia, Collegium Musicum ’90 and the Spoleto Festival in Italy, Associate Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, and Conductor Emeritus of the Northern Sinfonia. Also beginning in September 2000, James MacMillan will take up the role of Composer/ Conductor with the BBC Philharmonic, succeeding Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. The post involves working a minimum of three weeks a year with the BBC Philharmonic, conducting concerts and recordings for BBC Radio, both of his own music and other 20th Century composers. He will also compose at least one work annually for the orchestra, and be involved in their education work. This will be the first formal conducting position MacMillan has accepted, although he works regularly as a guest conductor with a number of leading orchestras.