Jac van Steen

Jac van Steen was born in the Netherlands and studied orchestral and choral conducting at the Brabant Conservatory of Music. Since participating in the BBC Conductors Seminar in 1985 he has enjoyed a very busy career conducting Europe’s finest orchestras, as well as the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra (S.A.), the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (Kuala Lumpur) and the New Japan Philharmonic (Tokyo). In May 2025 he made his South American debut with the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra (OSESP) in Brazil. He has held posts as Music Director and Chief Conductor with the Dutch National Ballet, the orchestras of Bochum and Nuremberg, the Staatskapelle Weimar, the Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra of Dortmund, and Musikkollegium Winterthur, as well as Principal Guest Conductor posts with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Prague Symphony Orchestra. At present, he is Honorary Principal Guest Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra.

photo Petr Dyrc

Jac van Steen built up a substantial opera repertoire during his long directorships of the German opera houses of Weimar (2002–2005) and Dortmund (2008–2013), after which came debuts with both Opera North and the Vienna Volksoper in 2013 followed by a very successful debut at the Garsington Opera. He returned to Opera North for several more productions, developed an annual association with the Vienna Volksoper and has made biennial appearances with Garsington Opera including for Strauss’s Intermezzo (2015), Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande (2017) and Smetana’s The Bartered Bride (2019 & 2023). He also led the Jette Parker Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in the 2018 Summer Performance. The 2018/19 season saw his debut with the Oslo Opera in two Puccini productions. His debut with the Dutch Touring Opera came in the 2023/24 season with a highly acclaimed production of Korngold’s Das Wunder der Heliane, the success of which led to an invitation to return the following season for R. Strauss‘s Ariadne auf Naxos.

Alongside his work as a conductor, Jac van Steen serves as Professor of Conducting at the Royal Conservatory of Music in The Hague, working with a select group of students from all over the world who take part in the National Masters Programme. He has also worked with the Royal Northern College of Music and Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester and gives regular master classes and concerts at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music in London, as well as at Cambridge University.