Conductor Leslie Suganandarajah is a natural communicator who brings abundant charisma, energy, and sensitivity to his performances both on the symphonic and operatic stages. He continues as Music Director of the Salzburg Landestheater since 2019 and has been named Chief Conductor of Concerts of the Oldenburgisches Staatstheater for the 2026/27 and 2027/28 seasons.

2025/26 highlights includes productions of Der Fliegende Holländer, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, and V. & K. Bhatti’s Berlin Alexanderplatz in Salzburg, as well as his debut at Volksoper Wien leading J.Strauß / M. Eisenreich’s Aschenbrödel Traum. He returns to the BBC Philharmonic, Aachen Symphony Orchestra, Göttinger Symphonie Orchester, and Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie in Chemnitz.

Alongside his operatic activities, he is in growing demand as a symphonic conductor. Recent appearances include Brucknerorchester Linz, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony, Norwegian Radio, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Berlin Konzerthausorchester, MDR Sinfonieorchester, Ulster Orchestra, and London Mozart Players. Following his debut with Chineke! Orchestra at the South Bank Centre, he was immediately re-invited to lead a tour in Europe, performing at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Bozar in Brussels, and Frankfurt’s Alte Oper.

Prior to his tenure in Salzburg, Suganandarajah has held Kapellmeister positions in Koblenz and Linz. working on a wide range of German repertoire, notably Strauss (Ariadne auf Naxos, Rosenkavalier, Elektra), Mozart (Figaro, Zauberflöte) and Wagner (Lohengrin, Parsifal), as well as Puccini, Bizet, Verdi and Stravinsky.

As a young child, Suganandarajah’s family fled the civil war in Sri Lanka and settled in Germany, where he began lessons in piano, flute and organ. He studied at the Musikhochschules in Hannover and Lübeck and completed his conducting studies at the Musikhochschule Franz Liszt in Weimar. He was accepted onto the Deutsche Dirigentenforum in 2011 and was awarded the Hermann-Hildebrandt Scholarship for young conductors, leading to his appointment as Assistant Conductor to Michael Sanderling and the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra for the 2014–15 season.

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