Spain
Portuguese conductor Nuno Coelho is Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias (OSPA), a position he has held since 2022. He has established an international reputation conducting leading orchestras across a broad repertoire, both in concert and opera.
Highlights of Coelho’s 2026/27 calendar include returns to Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Tampere Philharmonic, Symphoniker Hamburg, BBC Symphony Orchestra and Gulbenkian Orchestra, alongside debuts with Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, and Tonkünstler-Orchester at Vienna’s Musikverein.
In Asturias, he completes his tenure as Chief Conductor, opening the season with Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé which culminates in performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Other projects in the season include a puppet theatre production of Stravinsky’s Petrushka and collaborations with leading soloists including Alban Gerhardt, Alina Ibragimova, Pablo Ferrández, Alena Baeva and Yulianna Avdeeva.
Recent engagements with orchestras have included Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Nacional de España, Orquestra Sinfônica de São Paulo and Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.
Coelho has established a strong presence in opera. His work with Gulbenkian includes a semi-staged Così fan tutte and José Saramago’s reimagining of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, projects that reflect his interest in connecting musical repertoire with wider cultural and literary perspectives. Other opera credits include La traviata, Cavalleria rusticana, Rusalka and Manon, as well as Lemi Ponifasio’s staging of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Britten Sinfonia at the Barbican Centre. In December 2026 he returns to Ópera de Oviedo for Puccini’s Manon Lescaut.
Passionate about supporting the next generation of musicians, Coelho is Founder and Artistic Director of the Mondego International Music Academy (MIMA) which brings established artists together to mentor young composers, conductors and instrumentalists. He has also conducted Spain’s National Youth Orchestra (JONDE) on tour, including performances at Konzerthaus Berlin and the Rheingau Musik Festival, and in summer 2026 he conducted the Netherlands Youth Orchestra at the Concertgebouw.
Coelho won First Prize at the 2017 Cadaqués International Conducting Competition and was a Los Angeles Philharmonic Dudamel Fellow in 2018/19. His early career included two summers as a Tanglewood Conducting Fellow, two years as Assistant Conductor of the Netherlands Philharmonic, the Neeme Järvi Prize at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, and he was also a member of the German Music Council’s Dirigentenforum.
Born in Porto and trained as a violinist, Coelho studied conducting at the Zürich University of the Arts with Johannes Schlaefli. Beyond music, he has a particular interest in literature and tennis.
