Boston Symphony Orchestra Music Director Andris Nelsons has named Yiran Zhao and Jakub Przybycień as the orchestra’s new assistant conductors, beginning two-year terms with the 2026–27 season. They succeed Samy Rachid and Anna Handler, whose appointments conclude at the end of this summer’s Tanglewood season.
Both Zhao and Przybycień are expected to make their official BSO conducting debuts during the 2027 Tanglewood season, continuing a long-standing pathway that links the orchestra’s main season in Boston with its summer home in the Berkshires.
From Tanglewood to Symphony Hall
Born and raised in China, Yiran Zhao was a 2025 Conducting Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, where she led 15 concerts across orchestral, vocal, and chamber repertoire. Her programmes included Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges, Bartók’s Dance Suite, Carlos Simon’s Four Black American Dances, and several world premieres — a range that reflects both standard and contemporary interests.
Before formally joining the assistant conductor roster, Zhao is scheduled to appear in a BSO subscription concert on 3 April 2026, sharing the podium with Nelsons and fellow Tanglewood Conducting Fellow Leonard Weiss. She will also work with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra’s Mendelssohn Academy in June.
Zhao’s background extends beyond conducting. A composer, pianist and soprano, she won the 2024 American Prize for Composition and holds a Master of Music in choral conducting from the Yale School of Music, where she received the Robert Shaw Prize. She currently sings with the Grammy-winning ensembles Apollo’s Fire and The Crossing and serves as a Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellow at the Curtis Institute of Music, studying with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and assisting Curtis Opera productions.
A European trajectory
Polish-born Jakub Przybycień arrives in Boston after serving as assistant conductor of the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and National Orchestra of Catalonia from 2023 to 2025. His recent appearances include debuts with the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra, European Union Youth Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra, alongside guest engagements across Spain, Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia.
An accomplished violinist as well as conductor, Przybycień has been recognised in several major competitions: he won the 2025 Ernst von Schuch Conducting Prize, was a finalist in the 2025 Herbert von Karajan Young Conductors Award in Salzburg and the International Conducting Competition Rotterdam, and reached the semi-finals of the 2024 Malko Competition. He is currently based in Zurich.
An established pathway
In a statement, Nelsons described assistant conductors as “an important part of our musical community”, noting the strong connection both Zhao and Przybycień established with the orchestra during the audition process.
The BSO’s assistant conductor programme, established in its current form by Seiji Ozawa in 1986, has long functioned as a bridge between emerging talent and one of the United States’ leading orchestras. Alumni include figures who went on to major international careers, among them Michael Tilson Thomas, who famously stepped in mid-concert for an ailing William Steinberg in 1969 — a moment often cited as a turning point in his career — as well as Robert Spano, Ludovic Morlot, Andris Poga and Shi-Yeon Sung.
Assistant conductors at the BSO gain practical experience leading performances, preparing the orchestra with the music director and guest conductors, and serving as cover conductors at Symphony Hall, Tanglewood and on tour. The role demands both technical assurance and institutional trust — stepping in at short notice when required.
With Zhao and Przybycień, the BSO continues a tradition that combines international recruitment with internal cultivation, maintaining Tanglewood as a testing ground while reinforcing the orchestra’s broader artistic network in Europe and beyond.
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