Rafael Payare

director de orquesta

Rafael Payare’s innate musicianship, technical brilliance, and charismatic energy on the podium have established him as one of the most sought-after conductors of his generation. The 2026/27 season marks his fifth as Music and Artistic Director of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and his eighth as Music and Artistic Director of the San Diego Symphony.

From 2014 to 2019, Payare served as Principal Conductor and Music Director of the Ulster Orchestra, with which he made two appearances at the BBC Proms. In recognition of his significant artistic contributions to the orchestra and to the City of Belfast, he now holds the title of Conductor Laureate. He is also Principal Conductor of Virginia’s Castleton Festival.

Payare regularly works with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Wiener Philharmoniker, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Münchner Philharmoniker, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Staatskapelle Berlin, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, London Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Philadelphia Orchestra, and New York Philharmonic. In the 2026/27 season, highlights include return engagements with the New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, and Orchestre de Paris, as well as an appearance at the Tsinandali Festival.

With the San Diego Symphony, Payare leads a European tour in spring 2027 and conducts repertoire including Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10 and Mahler’s Symphony No. 6. He and the orchestra recently released Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7, “Leningrad,” their first recording for Delos/Outhere. With the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Payare leads tours to California and Asia and releases an album of Ravel and Stravinsky on Pentatone, adding to a growing discography that includes recordings of Berlioz, Schoenberg, Strauss, and Mahler.

As an opera conductor, Payare has led productions at the Royal Opera House (Covent Garden), Glyndebourne Festival, Staatsoper Berlin, Royal Swedish Opera, and Royal Danish Opera.

Dedicated to nurturing the next generation of musicians, Payare maintains a close relationship with the Royal College of Music in London. He has also worked with youth ensembles including the Chicago Civic Orchestra, Orchestra of the Americas, and Filarmónica Joven de Colombia and established the El Sistema OSM program in Montreal and the San Diego Symphony Conducting Fellowship.

Born in 1980, Payare is a graduate of the renowned El Sistema program in Venezuela. He began his formal conducting studies under the guidance of José Antonio Abreu and was subsequently mentored by Lorin Maazel and Krzysztof Penderecki. In 2012, he won First Prize at Denmark’s Malko Competition for Young Conductors. Before pursuing conducting, he served as Principal Horn of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra.