Leonoard Weiss, who received the AAF/Faber Fellowship for Young Conductors in 2023, was announced semi-finalist for the Concours de Genève Conducting Competition, after progressing through the first two rounds in Geneva earlier this month. (You can watch the livestream recordings of his second round and first round).
When the competition concludes in November 2026, Leonard Weiss will conduct the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, and Ensemble Contrechamps. Over the next 12 months, the competition will organize a range of professional development activities, masterclasses, workshops, and meetings with orchestras designed to further my growth and artistic connections in Europe.
This news follows recent competition successes in Italy, where Leonard Weiss won Third Prize in the Toscanini Conducting Competition in September; and in Armenia, where he won First Prize at the Khachaturian Competition in June. He also received the Special Prize for Best Interpretation of Khachaturian’s Symphony No. 2 and was immediately reinvited to the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra in their 2026–27 season.
Now back in Australia, Leonard Weiss will conduct several performances with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, where he currently serves as assistant conductor. Over this next month he will also be conducting Verdi’s Macbeth with BKOpera in Melbourne, and Hansel and Gretel with National Opera in Canberra. Concurrently, he will assist chief conductor Jaime Martín in his final two 2025 programs, featuring Joyce DiDonato and William Barton.
2026 will also be a busy year for Leonard Weiss: His 2026 season begins with five months at Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he serves as music director and conductor of their commissioned production Endlich at the Munich Biennale, and assistant conductor for operas by Rossini, Verdi and Handel.
Also in 2026, he will debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a mainstage program shared with Music Director Andris Nelsons, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra’s Mendelssohn Academy. Returning to Australia, he is set to conduct a subscription program at the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, and debut with two Adelaide Symphony Orchestra programs as well as with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.
