Canadian-American conductor Jean-Sébastien Vallée is Director of Choruses of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Conductor of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. He is also Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and its professional chamber ensemble, the Toronto Mendelssohn Singers, and Full Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music.

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Vallée’s career spans the orchestral and choral worlds. Known for the breadth of his musicianship and dynamic artistic leadership, he brings to the podium a distinctive combination of symphonic perspective, vocal expertise, and a deep understanding of the relationship between music, text, and dramatic expression.

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Appointed to his Boston Symphony Orchestra position beginning with the 2026–27 season, Vallée becomes only the third director of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus since its founding in 1970. As Director of Choruses, he leads the BSO’s choral activities and guides the artistic development of the TFC, the BSO’s official chorus and one of the world’s leading symphonic choral ensembles.

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Vallée has collaborated with many of North America’s leading orchestras, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. His 2026–27 season includes three programs with the Orchestre symphonique de Québec and conducting debuts with the Seattle Symphony and Pacific Symphony. 

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Equally at home in orchestral, choral-orchestral, and vocal repertoire, Vallée has conducted works ranging from the central symphonic and sacred canon to contemporary music and world premieres. At the heart of his work is a belief in music as an act of communication. His approach is grounded in the architecture and rhetoric of the score and in the expressive possibilities of sound and text. His programming frequently creates connections across periods and traditions, placing familiar masterworks in dialogue with contemporary voices and new perspectives.

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As Artistic Director of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Vallée leads one of Canada’s most historic choral organizations and its professional chamber ensemble, the Toronto Mendelssohn Singers. His work with the organization has been marked by ambitious choral-orchestral repertoire, contemporary voices, artistic partnerships, and new approaches to programming, while strengthening the choir’s national and international profile.

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An active recording artist, Vallée records for ATMA Classique, and his performances have been broadcast internationally. His discography includes Remember (2024), Distance (2021), Requiem – Fauré & Duruflé (2018), and Lux (2017). His newest recording, Lo, How a Rose, with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, is scheduled for release in fall 2026.

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Alongside his performing career, Vallée is an influential educator and mentor to a new generation of conductors. At McGill University, he leads one of Canada’s foremost university choral and conducting programs, with former students holding professional and academic appointments in Canada and abroad. A sought-after clinician and pedagogue, he has led masterclasses, workshops, and residencies throughout North America, Europe, and Asia and serves on the Board of Directors of Chorus America.

 

Vallée’s contributions to music have been recognized with major honours, including Université Laval’s Distinguished Alumnus Award and the Order of Choral Merit from the Alliance chorale du Québec.

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