A recipient of the 2024 and 2023 Career Assistance Award from the Solti Foundation U.S., Brazilian-American conductor Austin Chanu just concluded his tenure as the Assistant Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra, where he assisted Music Director Yannick NézetSéguin.

Austin made his subscription debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra in April 2023 conducting Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. Critics commended his interpretation saying, “the orchestra never sounded better as Chanu led with primal energy and shamanistic insight into the music… the orchestra matched Chanu’s confident leadership in a performance of searing energy and heart-thumping passion” (Broad Street Review).

He has recently appeared as a guest conductor with the Filarmonica Banatul Timișoara, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and Omaha Symphony. He is also currently a finalist in contention for Music Director of the Butler County Symphony Orchestra. He has worked with prominent conductors including Esa Pekka Salonen, Herbert Blomstedt, Stéphane Denève, and Marin Alsop.

Austin was a Conducting Fellow at the 2022 Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, where he studied with conductor Cristian Măcelaru. He has also participated in masterclasses with Alan Gilbert and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin, and Neil Thomson.

Previously, Austin was Music Director for the Los Angeles Music and Art School. He also served as a teaching artist and conductor for the LA Philharmonic Association’s Associate Composer Program.

Austin received a B.M. in Music Composition from the USC Thornton School of Music in 2015, graduating Magna cum Laude. He graduated from the Eastman School of Music in 2021 with an M.M. in Orchestral Conducting in the studio of Neil Varon