British-Canadian conductor Henry Kennedy has demonstrated his facility for moving seamlessly between the opera house and the concert stage with an impressive array of international credits. He is currently serving a two-year appointment as the inaugural Resident Conductor of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra (NACO) in Ottawa; has served as Resident Conductor for Poland’s Wrocław Opera; and conducted Riccardo Muti’s Orchestra Cherubini in a new production of Tosca in Puccini’s birthplace to celebrate the 2024 centenary of the composer’s death, when Corriere Fiorentino declared him to be “the revelation in this Tosca.” He has also collaborated as an assistant conductor with Sir Simon Rattle and Sir John Eliot Gardiner, among many other luminaries, and in 2025 was ranked by the CBC, Canada’s public broadcaster, among “30 under 30” notable Canadian classical musicians.  

Kennedy is especially adept at building lasting relationships with both conductors and institutions. At the NACO he works in close collaboration with Music Director Alexander Shelley, as well as helming numerous programs of his own with the orchestra. At Poland’s Wrocław Opera he collaborated with artistic director Mariusz Kwiecień and music director Bassem Akiki, and led performances of Don Giovanni, Carmen, and Les Pêcheurs de perles. In recent seasons he has been brought back to Poland twice for productions of Pêcheurs and La bohème and will return again for Pêcheurs in 2027.