List of principal conductors by orchestra explained

This is a non-exhaustive list of principal conductors by orchestra, principally for orchestras with pages on Wikipedia, classified by country and by city. The term 'principal conductor' is used here as an umbrella term to encompass such titles as:

• Principal conductor
• Music director
• Chief conductor

The term 'music director' is more common in the US and Canada, whereas 'principal conductor' or 'chief conductor' is more prevalent elsewhere. For orchestras which have both a music director and a principal conductor, such as the Royal Northern Sinfonia and Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, the person with the title of music director is given preference by hierarchy.

Orchestras which choose not to have principal conductors, such as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, are omitted from this list. Likewise, principal conductors for opera companies are omitted, unless the orchestra of that opera company performs orchestral concerts under a separate name.

Argentina

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
		(post vacant)

Armenia

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
			Armenian
Yerevan			Armenian
Yerevan		Sergey Smbatyan	Armenian
Gyumri		Natalie Galstyan	Armenian

Australia

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
		Mark Wigglesworth (designate, effective 2025)	British
			Italian
			Australian
		Eivind Aadland	Norwegian
			Spanish
			Israeli
Sydney			Australian
Sydney			Australian

Austria

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
			South African
	Österreichisch-Ungarische Haydn Philharmonie	Nicolas Altstaedt	German
	Grazer Philharmonisches Orchester		German
		Gunar Letzbor	Austrian
Linz			German
			Italian
Vienna		Stefan Gottfried	Austrian
Vienna			Austrian
Vienna			Austrian
Vienna	Nova Orchester Wien	William Garfield Walker	American
Vienna			Swiss
Vienna			Japanese
Vienna			Austrian
Vienna			American
Vienna			Czech

Belgium

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
		(post vacant)
Brussels			Japanese
Brussels			Dutch
	Oost-Vlaams Symfonisch Orkest	Geert Baetens	Belgian
		Gergely Madaras	Hungarian
			French

Bolivia

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
	National Symphony Orchestra of Bolivia	Weimar Arancibia	Bolivian

Brazil

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
	Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira	Roberto Minczuk	Brazilian
			Swiss
	Orquestra Sinfônica de Ponta Grossa		Brazilian
Brasilia	Orquestra Sinfônica de Brasília - OSTNCS	Cláudio Cohen	Brazilian

Canada

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
		Rune Bergmann	Norwegian
	Calgary Civic Symphony	Rolf Bertsch	Canadian
	Rocky Mountain Symphony Orchestra	Carlos Foggin	Canadian
	PEI Symphony Orchestra	Mark Shapiro	American
		(post vacant)
	Alberta Symphony Orchestra	Emilio De Mercato	Italian
	Symphony Nova Scotia		British
			French
			Canadian
			Venezuelan
			British
		Jonathan Cohen	British
			German
	Regina Symphony Orchestra	Gordon Gerrard	Canadian
		Eric Paetkau	Canadian
	Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra	Marc David	Canadian
	Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra	Arthur Post	American
		Kristian Alexander	Canadian
		(post vacant)
			Spanish
	Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières		Canadian
			Dutch
			Danish
		Daniel Raiskin	Russian

Chile

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
	National Symphony Orchestra of Chile		Venezuelan

China

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
			Chinese
		Huang Yi	Chinese
	Guangxi Symphony Orchestra	Synthia Ko	Chinese
			Chinese

Colombia

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
		(post vacant)
		Olivier Grangean	French
		Irwin Hoffman	American
	Orquesta Filarmónica de Medellín	David Greilsammer	Israel

Czech Republic

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
Brno			American
České Budějovice		Miran Vaupotić	Croatian
Olomouc			Czech
Ostrava		Daniel Raiskin (designate, effective 2026)	Russian
			American
			Russian
Prague			French
Prague			Czech
Prague			Czech

Denmark

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
			American
			French
			Hungarian
			Italian
Copenhagen			French
			French

Estonia

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
			Estonian

Finland

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
		Ville Matvejeff	Finnish
			British
			Finnish
	Helsinki Chamber Orchestra		French
			Estonian
		James S. Kahane	French
	Joensuu City Orchestra	Eero Lehtimäki	Finnish
			Russian-Finnish
	Lappeenranta City Orchestra	Erkki Lasonpalo	Finnish
	St. Michel Strings	Erkki Lasonpalo	Finnish
			British
	Pori Sinfonietta	Tibor Bogányi	Finnish
			British
			Finnish
	Vaasa City Orchestra	Anna-Maria Helsing (designate, effective 2025)	Finnish

France

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
			British
		Alexandre Bloch	French
			Danish
			Austrian-Hungarian
	Orchestre philharmonique de Marseille	Michele Spotti	Italian
			French
			French
	Orchestre de Chambre de Paris		German
			Finnish
			Romanian
			Finnish
	Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne	Nicholas Ellis	Canadian
		Aziz Shokhakimov	Uzbek
			Finnish

Germany

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
Bamberg			Czech
Berlin			Russian
Berlin			Russian
Berlin			British
Berlin			German
Berlin		Christian Thielemann (designate, effective September 2024)	German
Bochum		Tung-Chieh Chuang	Taiwanese
Bremen			Slovenian
Bremen			Estonian
Cologne		Andrés Orozco-Estrada (designate, effective 2025)	Colombian
Cologne		Frank Strobel	German
Cologne			Romanian
Dortmund		Gabriel Feltz	German
Dresden		Donald Runnicles (designate, effective 2025)	British
Dresden			German
Essen	Essen Philharmonic		Czech
Frankfurt			German
Frankfurt			French
Halle			French
Hamburg			French
Hamburg			American
Hannover			Russian
Hannover		Stephan Zilias	German
Heidelberg	Philharmonisches Orchester Heidelberg	Elias Grandy	German
Herford			British
Hilchenbach	Philharmonie Südwestfalen	Charles Olivieri-Munroe	Maltese
Jena		Simon Gaudenz	Swiss
Karlsruhe		Justin Brown	British
Koblenz			American-Israeli
Konstanz		Ari Rasilainen	Finnish
Ludwigshafen am Rhein			British
Leipzig			Latvian
Leipzig			American
Lübeck	Philharmonisches Orchester der Hansestadt Lübeck	Ryusuke Numajiri	Japanese
Munich			British
Munich			Russian
Munich		Alexander Liebreich	German
Munich		Lahav Shani (designate, effective 2026)	Israeli
Munich		Ivan Repušić	Croatian
Munich			German
Nuremberg			British
Nuremberg			German
Recklinghausen	Neue Philharmonie Westfalen	Rasmus Baumann	German
Stuttgart			Israeli
Stuttgart			Greek-Russian
Weimar		Dominik Beykirch	German
Wuppertal	Sinfonieorchesters Wuppertal	Patrick Hahn	Austrian

Hong Kong

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
		Jean Thorel	French
		Tarmo Peltokoski (designate, effective 2026)	Finnish
			German

Hungary

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
			Hungarian
			Israeli
	Concerto Budapest		Hungarian
	Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra		Italian
	MÁV Symphony Orchestra	Péter Csaba	Hungarian
	Symphony Orchestra of Miskolc	Tamás Gál	Hungarian

Iceland

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
			Finnish

Ireland

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
		Ryan McAdams	American
		(post vacant)
		Jaime Martin	Spanish

Israel

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
			Lithuanian
			Israeli
			Israeli

Italy

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
			Ukrainian
		Daniele Gatti	Italian
	Orchestra della Toscana		Finnish
	Orchestra della Scala		Italian
			American
			German
	Orchestra Camerata Italiana	Matthias Manasi	German
			British
			Colombian

Japan

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
		Tatsuya Shimono	Japanese
		Kentaro Kawase	Japanese
	Kanagawa Central Orchestra		Japanese
		Kazuhiro Koizumi	Japanese
		Michiyoshi Inoue	Japanese
			Singaporean
		Kazuyoshi Kamioka	Japanese
			Italian
	Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra	Ken Takaseki	Japanese
			Japanese
		Andrea Battistoni	Italian
			English
			German

Latvia

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
			Latvian
Riga		Tarmo Peltokoski	Finnish
			Lithuanian

Liechtenstein

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
Nendeln	Sinfonieorchester Liechtenstein		German
Vaduz	Orchester Liechtenstein-Werdenberg	Stefan Susana	Austrian

Luxembourg

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
	Luxembourg Chamber Orchestra	Corinna Niemeyer	German
			Spanish

Macau

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
			Chinese

Malaysia

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
			German

Netherlands

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
	Amsterdam Sinfonietta		British
			Swiss
		Klaus Mäkelä (designate, effective 2027)	Finnish
		Jan Willem de Vriend	Dutch
			Norwegian
			American
			Israeli
			German

New Zealand

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
			Danish
			Australian
			New Zealand
			American

Norway

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
		(post vacant)
			Lithuanian
		(post vacant)
			Finnish
			Latvian
			Korean

Paraguay

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
	Symphony Orchestra of the City of Asunción		Paraguayan
	Symphony Orchestra of the National Congress of Paraguay	Diego Sanchez Haase	Paraguayan
			Argentinian

Philippines

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
	Cebu Philharmonic Orchestra	Reynaldo Abellana	Filipino
		Marlon Chen	Taiwanese-American
			Polish

Poland

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
		George Tchitchinadze	Georgian
			American
		Charles Olivieri-Munroe	Canadian
		Michał Nesterowicz	Polish
		Marek Drewnowski	Polish
		Rune Bergmann	Norwegian
			Polish
		(post vacant)
	NFM Wrocław Philharmonic		Costa Rican

Portugal

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
			Finnish
			Portuguese
	Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa	Pedro Amaral	Portuguese
	Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música		Swiss

Russia

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
			Russian
			Russian
			Russian
		(post vacant)
			Russian
		Nikolai Alexeev	Russian

Singapore

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
			Austrian

Slovakia

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
		Mario Košik	Slovak

Slovenia

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
		En Shao	Chinese
		(post vacant)

South Korea

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
		Lim Hun Joung	South Korean
	Busan Philharmonic Orchestra	(post vacant)
	Daegu Philharmonic Orchestra	Julian Kovatchev	Bulgarian
	Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra		South Korean
	Seongnam Philharmonic Orchestra	Gum Nanse	South Korean
	Incheon Philharmonic Orchestra	Chung Chiyong	South Korean
			Israeli
			Dutch
	Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra	Kim Daejin	South Korean

Spain

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
	Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia		Russian
			French
			Spanish
	Basque National Orchestra		American
			Italian
			German
	Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra		Polish
	Orquesta Sinfónica Del Principado De Asturias	Rossen Milanov	Bulgarian
			Israeli
	ORA Orquesta Reino de Aragón	Ricardo Casero	Spanish

Sweden

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
			German
			Finnish
			American
			German
			Swedish
			American
Stockholm			British

Switzerland

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
			British
			Polish
			British
	Sinfonietta de Lausanne	Alexander Mayer	German
			German
			Austrian
	Philharmonia Zürich		Italian
			Estonian
			British

Taiwan

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
			German

United Kingdom

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
			British
			Italian
			Japanese
			Ukrainian
			British
			American
		Frank Zielhorst	Dutch
			Russian
			Portuguese
			British
			Danish
	Orchestra of Opera North		British
			Venezuelan
			American
			British
			Finnish-Swedish
			Finnish
			British
			British
			British
		Gérard Korsten	South African
			British
			British
			Finnish
			Russian
		Kahchun Wong	Singaporean
			Hungarian
		Nicholas Ward	British
			Finnish
		Kenneth Woods	American
	English Symphony Orchestra	Kenneth Woods	American

United States

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
			American
	Albany Symphony Orchestra	Claire Fox Hillard	American
			American
New Mexico Philharmonic		Brazilian				American
	Anchorage Symphony Orchestra	Elizabeth Schulze
		Brad Maffett	American
			French
			American
	Bellingham Symphony Orchestra		Israeli-American
	Berkeley Symphony Orchestra		American
			Venezuelan
			Latvian
			British
			American
		Andrew Crust	American
	Carroll Symphony Orchestra		American
			Trinidadian
		Klaus Mäkelä (designate, effective 2027)	Finnish
			French
			Austrian
			Bulgarian
			American
			Italian
			British
			Italian
	Durham Symphony Orchestra		American
			American
	South Florida Philharmonic	Donald Covert	American
	Grand Rapids Symphony	Marcelo Lehninger	Brazilian
	Gwinnett Symphony Orchestra	Robert Trocina	American
		Stuart Malina	American
	Hartford Symphony Orchestra		American
			Slovenian
			German
			British
			American
		Aram Demirjian	American
		Mélisse Brunet	French
		(post vacant)
			American
			Spanish
			Venezuelan
			American
		Robert Moody	American
			American
			Danish
	Naples Philharmonic Orchestra		British
			Costa Rican
			Mexican
		(post vacant)
			Canadian
			Dutch
			Canadian
			Chinese
			American
	Omaha Symphony Orchestra		American
	Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra		American
			Belgian
			Canadian
			American
			Austrian
			Austrian
			British
		Laura Jackson	American
		Valentina Peleggi	Italian
			German
			Israeli-American
			French
		(post vacant)
			Venezuelan
	San Francisco Philharmonic		American
			Finnish
	Santa Rosa Symphony	Francesco Lecce-Chong	American
		(post vacant)
		(post vacant)
			British
			Canadian
	Symphonicity	Daniel W. Boothe	American
			Italian
		David Amado	American

Venezuela

City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
			Venezuelan

Vietnam

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City	Orchestra	Conductor	Nationality
		Tetsuji Honna	Japanese