Yoann Combémorel
Conductor
Biography
Yoann Combémorel is emerging as one of the most distinctive voices of the new generation of conductors, developing a contemporary approach to the concert experience across symphonic repertoire, opera, and new music. Deeply committed to championing rarely performed repertoire as well as works by women composers and marginalized artists, he leads ambitious projects combining musical rigor, sonic dramaturgy, and immersive stage experiences.
In 2026, he records Hidden Light(s), an album bringing together Faust et Hélène by Lili Boulanger, Couleurs de la cité céleste by Olivier Messiaen, and the world premiere recording of Song for a New House by Samuel Barber, a work he recently rediscovered himself. The album is scheduled for release in spring 2027.
A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music (2026), where he served as Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellow under Yannick Nézet-Séguin, he has collaborated closely with conductors including Osmo Vänskä and Teddy Abrams, regularly preparing the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and leading various ensembles of the institution. This training followed studies at the Sibelius Academy with Petri Komulainen, as well as guidance from Sakari Oramo, Jorma Panula, Nils Schweckendiek, Johannes Schlaefli, and Nicolàs Pasquet.
At Curtis, he conducted the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky and shared the podium with Yannick Nézet-Séguin for the overture to Rienzi by Richard Wagner. He also collaborated with the Curtis Opera Theatre on productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Benjamin Britten and Candide by Leonard Bernstein. Alongside his orchestral training, he has developed a strong connection to vocal and choral repertoire, notably through a scholarship with the Europa Choir Akademie in Germany.
Recent seasons have marked several important debuts, notably with the Louisville Orchestra, where Teddy Abrams entrusted him with conducting the first part of Der Kaiser von Atlantis by Viktor Ullmann, featuring several artists from the Metropolitan Opera. Following this collaboration, he was reinvited as assistant and cover conductor.
Winner of the First Prize at the 2022 World Music Contest Conducting Competition in Kerkrade, he will also join the National Repertory Orchestra in 2026 as Conducting Fellow alongside Michael Stern.
Management: Europe
Photo credit : Camille Olivieri
Press
Led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Yoann Combémorel, the Curtis Symphony Orchestra proves themselves the equal of any major American orchestra.
The evening started auspiciously, but without Yannick ( Nézet-Séguin). Under the baton of Curtis Conducting Fellow Yoann Combémorel, the music began with a spirited, distinguished account of the Rienzi overture, which among other virtues showed that this youthful group may be made up of students (albeit at the highest level), but it’s the equal of all but perhaps the top tier of American orchestras. Heard here in Marian Anderson Hall—home to the Philadelphia Orchestra—the Curtis ensemble more than held their own. The brass had a particularly strong sense of cohesion. In a few sections of the Rienzi, the introduction of individual themes felt halting rather than fluid, but this was a distinguished and exciting beginning.