Biography

Mischa Santora joined Boston Ballet as Music Director in 2018. Born to Hungarian parents in the Netherlands, Santora moved to Switzerland at the age of three where he began to study violin with his father, a former member of the Lucerne Symphony. After he received a diploma in violin and teaching from the Academy for School and Church Music in Lucerne, Santora continued his violin studies with Professor Thomas Brandis, former concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic, at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin. Santora subsequently undertook conducting studies with Otto-Werner Mueller at the Curtis Institute of Music.

Santora has guest conducted many of the leading orchestras around the world, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, National Symphony (D.C.), Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, Basel Symphony, Hungarian National Philharmonic, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, Taiwan National Philharmonic, West Australian Symphony, and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, among many others.

Former positions include music director of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Hungarian International Opera Festival, New York Youth Symphony, associate conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra, and artistic director of the Spotlight Concerts at MacPhail Center for Music (Minneapolis), and the Minnesota Bach Ensemble.

As a composer, Santora has created works for a wide variety of genres. Most recently, he wrote a soundscape for William Forsythe’s Défilé, premiered by Boston Ballet in 2022, and a work for full orchestra and live electronics for Ken Ossola’s The Space Between, premiered by Boston Ballet in 2024. Regionally, Santora has been performing with the Boston University Chamber Orchestra, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, and at the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival.

Photo credit: Leslie Plesser