Leo Hussain (born 1978) is a British conductor, who has mainly concentrated on

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

. After tenures as music director of the

Rouen Philharmonic Orchestra The Rouen Philharmonic Orchestra, officially the Orchestra of the Opera of Rouen Normandy (French: ''Orchestre de l'Opéra de Rouen Normandie''), is a symphony orchestra based in Rouen in Normandy, France. It is housed in the Rouen Opera House. ...

and the

Salzburger Landestheater The Salzburg State Theatre (''Salzburger Landestheater'') is a theatre situated in Salzburg, Austria, a venue for opera, theatre, and dance, contemporary and older works, with resident companies of actors, singers and dancers. The theatre presents ...

, he has worked freelance directing operas at major houses in Europe, such as Bizet's ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

'' at the

Royal Danish Theatre The Royal Danish Theatre (RDT, Danish: ') is both the national Danish performing arts institution and a name used to refer to its old purpose-built venue from 1874 located on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The theatre was founded in 1748, first ser ...

, Korngold's ''

Die tote Stadt ' (German for ''The Dead City''), Op. 12, is an opera in three acts by Erich Wolfgang Korngold set to a libretto by Paul Schott, a collective pseudonym for the composer and his father, Julius Korngold. It is based on the 1892 novel '' Bruges-la-Mo ...

'' at the

Théâtre du Capitole The Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse is an opera house within the main administration buildings, the Capitole, of the city of Toulouse in south-west France. It houses an opera company, ballet company and symphony orchestra, Orchestre nationa ...

, and Weinberg's '' Die Passagierin'' at the

Oper Frankfurt The Oper Frankfurt (Frankfurt Opera) is a German opera company based in Frankfurt. Opera in Frankfurt am Main has a long tradition, with many world premieres such as Franz Shrek's ''Der ferne Klang'' in 1912, '' Fennimore und Gerda'' by Frede ...

. He has also conducted outside Europe, for example '' Capriccio'' by Richard Strauss at the

Santa Fe Opera Santa Fe Opera (SFO) is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. After creating the ''Opera Association of New Mexico'' in 1956, its founding director, John Crosby (conductor), John Crosby, oversaw the building of the fir ...

, as well as concerts in Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

Life and career

Born in 1978, Leo Hussain studied at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

, and the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

. He served as an assistant to

Simon Rattle Sir Simon Denis Rattle (born 19 January 1955) is a British-German conductor. He rose to international prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, while music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–1998). Rattle was principal ...

at the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amad ...

, working with the

Berlin Philharmonic The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world. History The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...

which won him international recognition. He was also inspired by

Daniel Barenboim Daniel Barenboim (; in he, דניאל בארנבוים, born 15 November 1942) is an Argentine-born classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin. He has been since 1992 General Music Director of the Berlin State Opera and "Staatskapellmeist ...

and

Yannick Nézet-Séguin Yannick Nézet-Séguin, CC (; born Yannick Séguin;David Patrick Stearns, "Nezet-Seguin signs Philadelphia Orchestra contract". ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', 19 June 2010. 6 March 1975) is a Canadian ( Québécois) conductor and pianist. He ...

. Hossain was music director of the

from 2009 to the 2013/14 season. He was offered the conductorship of the

in 2014. He made his

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...

debut in the 2015/16 season, conducting Enescu’s '' Oedipe'', and returned in 2019 to conduct Mozart's ''

Die Zauberflöte ''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a ''Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that includ ...

''. Hussain conducted Tchaikovsky's '' Eugen Onegin'' at the

Bavarian State Opera The Bayerische Staatsoper is a German opera company based in Munich. Its main venue is the Nationaltheater München, and its orchestra the Bayerische Staatsorchester. History The parent ensemble of the company was founded in 1653, under Ele ...

, Bizet's ''

'' at the

and Korngold's ''

'' at the

in Toulouse. In the United States, he has led Puccini's ''

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...

'' at the

San Francisco Opera San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California. History Gaetano Merola (1923–1953) Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when he ...

and '' Capriccio'' by Richard Strauss at the

. Productions at the

have included the double bill of Ravel's ''

L'heure espagnole ''L'heure espagnole'' is a French one-act opera from 1911, described as a ''comédie musicale'', with music by Maurice Ravel to a French libretto by Franc-Nohain, based on Franc-Nohain's 1904 play ('comédie-bouffe') of the same nameStoullig E. '' ...

'' and de Falla's '' La vida breve'', as well as Weinberg's '' Die Passagierin'' in 2015. A reviewer of Weinberg's opera – concerning a concentration-camp survivor and her former female guard – noted that Hussain excelled in realising numerous aspects of the score, including chamber music moments, hard cutting beats in the percussion, and distorted parodies of entertainment music, in the tradition of

Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

and

Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throughout his life as a major compo ...

. Hussain returned in the 2021/22 season for Cimarosa's ''

L'Italiana in Londra ''L'Italiana in Londra'' (''The Italian Girl in London'') is one of eight comic operas, termed intermezzi, which Domenico Cimarosa wrote between 1777 and 1784 for the Teatro Valle, a handsome neo-classical Roman theatre built in 1726, which still ...

''. Hussain conducted Britten's ''

The Rape of Lucretia ''The Rape of Lucretia'' (Op. 37) is an opera in two acts by Benjamin Britten, written for Kathleen Ferrier, who performed the title role. Ronald Duncan based his English libretto on André Obey's play '. Performance history The opera was fi ...

'' at the

Glyndebourne Festival Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an annual opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England. History Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, ...

, and Alban Berg's ''

Wozzeck ''Wozzeck'' () is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. It was composed between 1914 and 1922 and first performed in 1925. The opera is based on the drama ''Woyzeck'', which the German playwright Georg Büchner left incomplete at h ...

'' and Schönberg's ''

Gurrelieder ' is a large cantata for five vocal soloists, narrator, chorus and large orchestra, composed by Arnold Schoenberg, on poems by the Danish novelist Jens Peter Jacobsen (translated from Danish to German by ). The title means "songs of Gurre", re ...

'' for the

George Enescu Festival The George Enescu Festival (also known as George Enescu International Festival and Competition), held in honor of the celebrated Romanian composer George Enescu, is the biggest classical music festival and classical international competition hel ...

. In concerts, Hussain has conducted the

West Australian Symphony Orchestra The West Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO) is an Australian symphony orchestra based in Perth, Western Australia. Its principal concert venue is the Perth Concert Hall. WASO also gives concerts at the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre. , WA ...

and the

Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (TSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It is the smallest of the six orchestras established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). History The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestr ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, the

Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (APO) is a symphony orchestra based in Auckland, New Zealand. Its principal concert venue is the Auckland Town Hall. The APO is the accompanying ensemble for performances by New Zealand Opera, NZ Opera and th ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, and the

NHK Symphony Orchestra The is a Japanese broadcast orchestra based in Tokyo. The orchestra gives concerts in several venues, including the NHK Hall, Suntory Hall, and the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall. History The orchestra began as the ''New Symphony Orchestra'' o ...

and the

Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra The , also known as Tokyō (都響), is one of the representative symphony orchestras of Japan. The Orchestra was founded in 1965 by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, to commemorate the Tokyo Olympics (1964 Summer Olympics). Currently Kazushi O ...

at the Tokyo Spring Festival.

References

External links

Leo Hussain / Dirigat
operabase.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hussain, Leo 1978 births Living people British male conductors (music) Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge 21st-century British conductors (music) 21st-century British male musicians