“Tasteful restraint and explosive energy.”
German conductor Kevin John Edusei is sought-after the world over. He is praised repeatedly for the drama and tension in his music-making and the sense of architecture, warmth and insight that he brings to his performances. He is deeply committed to the creative elements of performance, presenting classical music in new formats, cultivating audiences and conducting an eclectic range of repertoire.
Highlights of Edusei’s 2024/25 season include debuts with the New York Philharmonic, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Taiwan Philharmonic Orchestra and at the Musikverein with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. His return engagements include the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra at the Concertgebouw and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in his final season as Principal Guest Conductor. A strong advocate of contemporary music, Edusei’s carefully curated programmes across the 2024/25 season include premieres of works by Hannah Kendall, Thomas Larcher, Samy Moussa, Brian Nabors, Derrick Skye and Gabriella Smith.
Edusei is a regular guest conductor across the world with orchestras including the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, CBSO, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony and Sydney Symphony Orchestra. He has a long-standing relationship with the Chineke! Orchestra with whom he performs this season at London’s South Bank Centre, Konzerthaus Berlin, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and at BOZAR, Brussels. Edusei is the former Chief Conductor of the Munich Symphony Orchestra and the Bern Opera House.
In Autumn 2022, Edusei made his debut at the Royal Opera House conducting Puccini's La bohème, which was streamed across cinemas world-wide, and in 2023/24 he returned for a production of Madama Butterfly. Previously he has enjoyed great success with productions at the Semperoper Dresden, English National Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Volksoper Wien and Komische Oper Berlin. During his tenure at the Bern Opera House, he led highly acclaimed new productions including Peter Grimes, Ariadne auf Naxos, Salome, Bluebeard’s Castle, Tannhäuser, Tristan und Isolde, Kátya Kábanová and a cycle of the Mozart-Da-Ponte operas.
Born in Bielefeld, Germany, Edusei studied sound engineering, classical percussion and orchestral conducting at the University of the Arts Berlin and the Royal Conservatory The Hague with Jac van Steen and Ed Spanjaard. In 2004 he was awarded a conducting fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival by David Zinman, in 2007 he was a prize-winner at the Lucerne Festival conducting competition under the artistic direction of Pierre Boulez and in 2008 he won the first prize of the Dimitri Mitropoulos Competition in Athens. Edusei is an alumnus of the Deutsche Bank Akademie Musiktheater heute and the Dirigentenforum of the German Music Council. He resides with his family in Munich.