Samy Rachid

About

In February 2023, French conductor Samy Rachid was appointed the new Assistant Conductor of Boston Symphony Orchestra under Music Director Andris Nelsons for a two-year term, effective in October 2023. He will debut with the orchestra during the Tanglewood Music Festival 2024, followed by subscription concerts at Symphony Hall during Boston Symphony Orchestra’s 2024/25 season.

Currently working as Assistant Conductor of the Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg, Samy Rachid was a Conducting Fellow of the prestigious Verbier Festival 2022, where he worked with such renowned conductors as Klaus Mäkelä and Gianandrea Noseda, and took part in the Gstaad Conducting Academy, where he worked closely with Jaap von Zweden and became the first French conductor to be awarded the Academy’s Neeme Järvi Prize.

​Formerly the cellist of Arod Quartet, Samy Rachid left that ensemble in 2021 to focus on conducting, winning second prize at the Tokyo International Music Competition for Conducting. The same year he worked with France’s Orchestre Elektra and was subsequently asked by the ensemble to become their Music Director for the 2022/23 season. 

Since 2021, Samy Rachid has worked with NHK Symphony Orchestra, Gstaad Festival Orchestra, Verbier Festival Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra, PKF Prague Philharmonia, Tokyo Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic, Sinfonie Orchester Biel Solothurn, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestre Symphonique de Mulhouse, and Hungarian Symphony Orchestra Szeged.

His journey as the cellist of Arod Quartet allowed him to learn with great masters such as Ebene Quartet and Artemis Quartet. In 2015, he won first prize and two special prizes at the Carl Nielsen String Quartet Competition, and in 2016 the first prize and two special prizes at the ARD Competition in Munich. He recorded several albums for Warner Classics.

Samy studied with Mathieu Herzog and assisted him with the Orchestre Appassionato on several projects, mainly with prestigious singers such as Roberto Alagna, Ludovic Tezier and Nadine Sierra.