Samy Rachid

The young French conductor Samy Rachid was named an assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra by Music Director Andris Nelsons for the start of the 2023-24 season. Formerly the cellist of the Arod Quartet, he left that ensemble in 2021 to focus on conducting, winning Second Prize of the Tokyo International Music Competition for Conducting. He worked with France’s Orchestre Elektra, becoming their music director for the 2022-23 season. He was a conducting fellow of the Verbier Festival working with Gianandrea Noseda and Klaus Mäkelä and took part in the Gstaad Conducting Academy, where he worked with Jaap van Zweden and was the first French conductor to receive the Academy’s Neeme Järvi Prize. He is assistant conductor of the Opéra National du Rhin. As assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, he will make his BSO debut at Tanglewood in 2024 and his subscription debut at Symphony Hall during the 2024-25 season. Samy Rachid studies with Mathieu Herzog, assisting him with the Orchestre Appassionato on projects, and with singers including Roberto Alagna, Ludovic Tezier, and Nadine Sierra. As cellist of the Arod Quartet, he worked with Quatuor Ébène and the Artemis Quartet; the quartet won the First Prize and two special prizes at the Carl Nielsen String Quartet Competition and First Prize and two special prizes at the ARD Competition in Munich. He has recorded several albums for Warner Classics. Since 2021, Samy Rachid has conducted the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Gstaad Festival Orchestra, Verbier Festival Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra, PKF Prague Philharmonia, Tokyo Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic, Sinfonie Orchester Biel Solothurn, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestre Symphonique de Mulhouse, and Hungarian Symphony Orchestra Szeged.