From Tchaikovsky to The Firebird

^2026-2027

With his innate musicianship, gift for communication, and irresistibly joyous spirit, conductor Rafael Payare is Music and Artistic Director of both Canada’s Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) and California’s San Diego Symphony (SDSO), as well as Principal Conductor of Virginia’s Castleton Festival and Conductor Laureate of Northern Ireland’s Ulster Orchestra. Payare is celebrated for his expertise in late Romantic repertoire while also cultivating the next generation of composers with regular commissions and performances of new works. A veteran of Venezuela’s El Sistema program – in which he began playing horn at the age of 14 – and 2012 first prize winner at Denmark’s Malko Competition for Young Conductors, Payare remains dedicated to inspiring younger musicians, regularly working with youth orchestras and establishing mentorship programs like El Sistema OSM and the SDSO Conducting Fellowship. Payare resides in San Diego and Montreal with his wife, acclaimed cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and their two young children.

Leonidas Kavakos is recognised across the world as a violinist and artist of rare quality. Acclaimed for his captivating artistry, superb musicianship, matchless technique and the integrity of his playing, Kavakos performs with the world’s leading orchestras as both soloist and conductor, and in recital at the world’s premier venues. In 2022 Kavakos founded the ApollΩn Ensemble, a chamber group of elite Greek musicians who are in increasing demand internationally, and from 2025 has been the Artistic Director of the “Classic Revolution” Festival at Lotte Concert Hall, Seoul. From the 27/28 season, Kavakos takes up the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra

Highlights of Kavakos’s 26/27 season include performances with Orchestre de Paris, Dresden Staatskapelle, Vienna Symphony, London Symphony, Filarmonica della Scala, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and a residency with Shanghai Symphony where he will perform ten concerti across the season. He will also appear on tour with Montreal Symphony in North America, and with San Diego Symphony in Europe. Conducting engagements include Philharmonia, Israel Philharmonic, Danish National Symphony, Spanish National Orchestra, Luxembourg Philharmonic and with the European Union Youth Orchestra at Grafenegg Festival. Kavakos will perform the entire Beethoven sonata cycle at London’s Wigmore Hall, The Megaron in Athens, and again in Taiwan, with further recitals across Europe, Japan, and Singapore, including performances with the ApollΩn Ensemble in Germany and Italy.

Kavakos’s extensive and award-winning discography includes the Brahms Violin Concerto with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Riccardo Chailly (Decca), and the Beethoven Violin Concerto which he also conducted with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (Sony Classical). He was named ECHO Klassik Instrumentalist of the Year for his recording of the complete Beethoven Sonatas with Enrico Pace. With Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma, Kavakos has released a series of trio recordings to the highest critical acclaim. With the ApollΩn Ensemble, he has recorded Bach’s Violin Concertos.

Kavakos curates an annual violin and chamber music masterclass in Athens, where he was born and brought up in a musical family. In 2022, He was elected by the Academy of Athens as a member of the Chair of Music in the Second Class of Letters and Fine Arts for his services to music. In 2024, he was appointed professor of violin at the Basel Academy of Music. Kavakos plays the ‘Willemotte’ Stradivari violin of 1734.