Austin Chanu is a Brazilian-American conductor praised by Yannick Nézet-Séguin as “one of the great talents in the USA at the moment.” He is a three-time recipient of the Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award and winner of both third prize and the orchestra prize at the Korean National Symphony Orchestra International Conducting Competition.

In the 2025–26 season Austin Chanu will debut with The Syracuse Orchestra and the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra. His recent guest conducting engagements include appearances with The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Filarmonica Banatul Timișoara, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Omaha Symphony, and the Butler County Symphony Orchestra. These performances have helped establish him as an American orchestral conductor with an international profile.

From 2021 to 2024 Austin Chanu was Assistant Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra, working closely with Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin. During this period the Brazilian-American conductor co-led a major initiative to revive and champion underperformed works by William Grant Still, conducting the world premiere of a newly restored edition of Wood Notes. His subscription debut with the orchestra featured Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, a performance praised by the Broad Street Review for its “primal energy, shamanistic insight, and heart-thumping passion.”

Austin Chanu is deeply committed to contemporary music, informed by his own background as a composer. He has worked as a teaching artist and conductor for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Associate Composer Program and was a Conducting Fellow at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, studying with Cristian Măcelaru. The Eastman School of Music commissioned him to compose an orchestral work for its centennial celebration, which he conducted at its world premiere in 2021.

Earlier in his career Austin Chanu served as Music Director of the Los Angeles Music and Art School, where he directed the youth orchestra, choirs, and jazz band. Drawing on his Latino heritage, he placed a strong emphasis on repertoire that reflected and represented the program’s predominantly Latinx community.

In addition to his work as a classical music conductor, Austin Chanu has extensive experience in jazz and musical theatre. While based in Los Angeles he performed as a woodwind player with pit orchestras and jazz ensembles, building a reputation as a versatile musician across multiple genres.

Austin Chanu earned his Bachelor of Music in Composition from the USC Thornton School of Music, graduating magna cum laude, and completed both his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in Orchestral Conducting at the Eastman School of Music.