Jean-Sébastien Vallée
Canadian-American conductor Jean-Sébastien Vallée leads ensembles in repertoire spanning the symphonic, choral-orchestral, and vocal traditions. His work brings together an orchestral perspective with extensive experience in vocal music and is grounded in the architecture and rhetoric of the score, with particular attention to color, text, and dramatic trajectory.
Vallée is Director of Choruses of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Conductor of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, positions he assumed with the 2026–27 season. He is also Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and Toronto Mendelssohn Singers, and Full Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music.
He has collaborated with orchestras including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, National Arts Centre Orchestra, and Orchestre symphonique de Québec. His 2026–27 season includes three programs with the Orchestre symphonique de Québec and conducting debuts with the Seattle Symphony and Pacific Symphony.
At the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Vallée oversees the BSO’s choral activities and the artistic development of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, collaborating with Music Director Andris Nelsons and guest conductors at Symphony Hall and Tanglewood. He is only the third conductor to lead the TFC since its founding in 1970. As Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, he leads one of Canada’s longstanding choral organizations and its professional chamber ensemble, the Toronto Mendelssohn Singers. His work there encompasses major choral-orchestral repertoire, contemporary music, commissions, recordings, and collaborations with orchestras and soloists.
Vallée records for ATMA Classique. His discography includes Remember (2024), Distance (2021), Requiem – Fauré & Duruflé (2018), Lux (2017), and Lo, How a Rose (2026).
Alongside his performing career, Vallée is an active educator and mentor to a new generation of conductors. At McGill University, he leads one of Canada’s foremost university choral and conducting programs, with former students holding professional and academic appointments in Canada and abroad. A sought-after clinician and pedagogue, he has led masterclasses, workshops, and residencies throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, and serves on the Board of Directors of Chorus America.
