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Jordan de Souza

conductor

Canadian conductor Jordan de Souza has been appointed general music director of Theater Dortmund and chief conductor of Dortmund Philharmoniker with a five-year contract commencing in August 2025.

Jordan de Souza’s standing as one of the most sought-after conductors of his generation is reflected by a varied and dynamic schedule appearing with many of the world’s great opera houses, symphony orchestras, and festivals. During the 2024-25 season, he leads a new production of Don Carlo at the Royal Danish Opera and return engagements bring him to Deutsche Oper Berlin for Turandot, to Lyric Opera of Chicago and Komische Oper Berlin for La Bohème, and Deutsche Oper am Rhein for Carmen. He makes a Minnesota Orchestra debut leading concerts that reimagine Bach pieces for larger symphonic forces and include mandolin superstar Avi Avital.

Return engagements of the 2023-24 season included performances of La Bohème at the Canadian Opera Company, La Traviata with Opéra de Montréal, and a program with the Philharmonia Orchestra in their Royal Festival Hall Series following a very successful collaboration conducting Der Rosenkavalier at Garsington Opera in 2021. Featured highlights of the season also included debuts with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the world premiere of The Righteous, a new opera by Gregory Spears and Tracy K. Smith at the Santa Fe Opera.

In his native Canada, Jordan de Souza has helmed multiple programs on the podium of Orchestre symphonique de Montréal as well as concerts with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Québec and Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. In the United States, he has appeared at Chicago’s Grant Park Music Festival and has conducted new productions of Tristan und Isolde for Seattle Opera and Rigoletto at Houston Grand Opera. European opera appearances include The Magic Flute at the Bayerische Staatsoper and Oper Köln, Carmen at Dutch National Opera, and Der fliegende Holländer at Nationaltheater Mannheim. Last season, he led La périchole at Theater an der Wien, a new production of La Bohème at Glyndebourne Festival, and made his Italian debut conducting the Orchestra della Toscana in a progam of Brahms and Mendelssohn.

Born in Toronto and of Goan heritage, Jordan de Souza studied conducting at McGill University, Montreal, and made his conducting debut aged 20 leading Bach St. John Passion. Upon graduating, he joined the McGill University faculty from 2011 to 2015 and went on to conduct several important choral works including Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Christmas Oratorio and Mass in B minor, as well as the Verdi, Mozart and Fauré Requiem. During this time, he also led three world premieres as conductor in residence of Tapestry Opera, the only Canadian company solely dedicated to creating and performing original Canadian opera.

He moved to Europe to join the staff of the Komische Oper Berlin and was First Kapellmeister completing a four-year term in 2020. During this tenure, Jordan de Souza collaborated closely with renowned director Barrie Kosky on four critically acclaimed new productions: Pelléas et Mélisande, La Bohème, Weinberger’s Frühlingsstürme and Candide, and led numerous repertory revivals.

The artist now lives in Berlin with his wife and two young children.