Born in Montréal and now based in Berlin, composer-conductor Samy Moussa is one of the world’s leading composers. Moussa’s work has been performed by many prestigious orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and New York Philharmonic.
Notable premieres of recent seasons include orchestral work Elysium which was premiered by the Vienna Philharmonic and Christian Thielemann in 2021 and has since received multiple performances worldwide. Moussa’s Symphony No.2 was premiered in 2022 by the Toronto Symphony and at the BBC Proms, and in 2025 the Dutch National Opera & Ballet gave the premiere of oratorio Antigone. Other recent highlights include the premieres of Adgilis Deda by the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck, and Trombone Concerto “Yericho” with Orchestre National de Lyon and Jörgen van Rijen.
Moussa’s works have also been commissioned and performed by the likes of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Staatskapelle Berlin, Dutch National Opera and Ballet, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has featured as Artist in Residence at Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Composer in Residence with Helsinki Philharmonic and frequently collaborates with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. Moussa’s works remain popular with internationally renowned conductors such as Manfred Honeck, Kent Nagano, Stéphane Denève, Christian Thielemann, Christoph Eschenbach, Gustavo Gimeno, Hannu Lintu, Kevin John Edusei, Eva Ollikainen, Fabien Gabel and Lorenzo Viotti.
Recent seasons have seen Moussa take up the baton to conduct a range of repertoire from Classical to contemporary with many orchestras around the world, including the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Helsinki Philharmonic, Milan Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, MDR Symphony Leipzig, Vienna Radio Symphony, Zürich Chamber Orchestra, Québec Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Bilbao Symphony Orchestra and Musikkollegium Winterthur.
Moussa’s 2025/26 season opens with a feature at MITO SettembreMusica Festival in Italy where he conducts the Milan Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI present the Italian premiere of Elysium and Symphony No.1. This season also sees the world premiere of Moussa’s Flute Concerto for Emmanuel Pahud to be premiered by the Orchestre National de France (cond. Gabel), a new work premiered by DSO Berlin (cond. Nagano) and the premiere of “Ring” for cello and chamber orchestra with National Arts Centre Orchestra Ottawa. Moussa conducts Mendelssohn’s Elijah at the Festival International Bach Montréal, the Vienna Philharmonic will perform Elysium once again, in concerts at the Musikverein conducted by Thielemann, and Oslo Opera House and Ballet present the Norwegian premiere of Antigone in a new choreography by Sir Wayne McGregor.
Samy Moussa’s work has been acclaimed by critics, juries and audiences alike, with notable awards including the 2020 Laureate of Fondation Banque Populaire, 2018 Villa Massimo Fellowship, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival’s 2017 Paul Hindemith Prize, the Ernst von Siemens 2013 Composers’ Prize, and a 2012 Bayerischen Kunstförderpreis for his work as Music Director of INDEX Ensemble.
See Samy Moussa conduct RSNO Plays Moussa & Beethoven on 23 and 24 February 2027.
