Of course there was Marin Alsop’s controversial appointment as msuci director of the Baltimore Symphony. In addition “this month Simone Young becomes music director of the Hamburg State Opera; Susanna Mälkki, a familiar conductor of the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, is about to become the new music director of L’Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris; and Emmanuelle Haim’s reputation as a leading interpreter of the baroque repertoire blossoms by the week.”