Dinis Sousa

Conductor

Principal Conductor – Royal Northern Sinfonia
Founder & Artistic Director – Orquestra XXI

Managed in Association with Enticott Music Management

Biography

Dinis Sousa is Principal Conductor of the Royal Northern Sinfonia, a position he has held since April 2021. During his tenure the orchestra have performed at the BBC Proms twice, with soloists Kristian Bezuidenhout and Nicholas Daniel. During the 2023/24 season, they will present a complete cycle of Robert Schumann’s symphonies at The Glasshouse in addition to his choral masterpiece Das Paradies und die Peri. Other highlights include a world premiere by Cassandra Miller, collaborations with soloists Christian Tetzlaff, Steven Isserlis and Elizabeth Leonskaja and several performances around the UK including Birmingham and Cardiff.

During the 2023/24 season Dinis will make his debut at Carnegie Hall conducting the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists in two programmes of Bach and Handel, as part of a North American tour. This follows on from performances of Berlioz’s Les Troyens in 2023, including the Salzburg Festival, Berlin Festival and BBC Proms. This tour attracted exceptional critical acclaim; ‘Sousa was electrifying in moments of grandeur, high drama and emotional intensity’ (Guardian). Dinis is Associate Conductor of the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras. Previous highlights have included co-conducting the Monteverdi Choir in Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette at the BBC Proms, and conducting the English Baroque Soloists in Colombia.

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Media

Reviews

Translation:

“The mastery shown by this young conductor… who made a brilliant debut last year at the Proms at the head of the Northern Sinfonia of which he has just taken over, is as impressive as it is exciting.”

“Dinis Sousa implements the composer’s intentions very exactly… he holds and supports his musicians with a gaze that sees everything… He never forgets the trajectory… It captivates us from start to finish… Like a vast speech whose eloquence seems to flow naturally.”

Jean-Pierre Rousseau

Bachtrack

“There were heroes at every turn, none more than Dinis Sousa, who shouldered his promotion from assistant to maestro with relaxed aplomb. The 34-year-old Portuguese conductor took on one of the biggest projects in all opera and never put a foot wrong; the Monteverdi Choir sang like angels for him while the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique gave a performance of startling virtuosity.”

Mark Valencia

Bachtrack

“Sousa projected energy and confidence from the moment he stepped on stage. He launched into the overture before the applause which greeted the performers had subsided. The gesture had its effect, but didn’t signal what was to come. Sousa led a performance that was graceful and airy, although if bite was called for, the violins and oboes were quick to add it.”

Rick Perdian

New York Classical Review

“Sousa was electrifying in moments of grandeur, high drama and emotional intensity.”

Tim Ashley

The Guardian (5*)

“Portuguese-born Dinis Sousa, already a considerable conductor in his own right, leapt into the breach with grace and intensity, directing the Monteverdi Choir, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and soloists … in a spellbinding, well-paced performance”

Fiona Maddocks

The Guardian

“Following his takeover…in a rapturously received Proms performance of Berlioz’s Les Troyens, Dinis Sousa now proves he’s the right conductor for this happy-looking team”

David Nice

The Arts Desk