Jean-Marie Zeitouni named new Edmonton Symphony Orchestra music director

Jean-Marie Zeitouni speaks to media as the newly appointed music director of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra at the Winspear Centre on Feb. 19, 2025. (Cam Wiebe / CTV News Edmonton)

Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (ESO) on Wednesday welcomed its ninth music director, world-experienced conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni.

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Zeitouni is the third Canadian to fill the role.

He has led orchestras in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, Brussels, Detroit, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary, and collaborated with the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston, the National Symphony of Mexico, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic, according to ESO.

He made his ESO debut in 2006 and has conducted more than 35 performances with the orchestra and Edmonton Opera since then.

“I know the landscape, so to speak, of orchestras,” Zeitouni said of his experience, including as a music director for arts organizations and music festivals, at a press conference on Wednesday at Edmonton’s Winspear Centre.

“As an experienced collaboration for organization, because obviously, there is what is happening on stage, but there is as much if not more energy and work done off stage to make things happen. And I’ve grown really – I don’t want to boast but – more savvy of the necessary steps to keep an organization and help them grow.”

He also said being Canadian provides him with familiarity of the orchestra’s relationship to others and governments in the country.

About his vision for the orchestra under his leadership, Zeitouni said, “Obviously, there is already a strong identity in the Edmonton symphony, being a Canadian orchestra and being part of an organization where there is an expansion and, really, an openness toward making music more present in the life of people with education, with community work.

“I have to say, when I said this felt really natural for me, it really goes along (with) what I believe are my strong values as a musician and also an educator to be able to make a difference in people’s lives with music and be relevant in the world today for an arts organization.”

ESO president and CEO Annemarie Leenhouts-Petrov called Zeitouni’s appointment a “defining moment” for the orchestra.