At 27, conductor Jordan de Souza is earning high praise at the podium,
At 27, Jordan de Souza is having a breakout year leading some top orchestras
Prepare to see a lot more of the back of Jordan de Souza’s head: the young conductor is tackling some major Toronto assignments this upcoming year.
Recently named the conductor-inresidence for Tapestry Opera, the 27year-old alumnus of St. Michael’s Choir School makes his debut in his new job at the opera’s annual fundraiser Wednesday at the University Club. He will follow that with four stints on the podium Nov. 19 to 21 leading a new punk/opera composition Tap:Ex Metallurgy.
The fast-talking, high-energy organist and conductor also has roles as guest conductor, assistant conductor and rehearsal conductor with the Canadian Opera Company (COC) and the National Ballet of Canada. In December, he will conduct St. Mike’s annual Christmas concert at Massey Hall.
“This is a thrill. I’m a hometown kid. These are all the places I’ve dreamed of,” he says in an interview at Tapestry’s offices in the Distillery District where he arrived by bicycle.
He calls the conductor’s job one of “self-discovery, leadership and community.”
One of seven boys who all attended the choir school, de Souza was so talented that Jerzy Cichocki, music director of the school, handed him the conductor’s baton at the age of12.
“He oozes music,” explains Cichocki, who conducted at de Souza’s August wedding to singer Jana Miller. “He’s got rhythm in his body.”
“Jordan could do a lot of things, he’s a brilliant pianist,” Cichocki says. “But once he got the opera bug, that was it.”
De Souza, who studied music at McGill University, has been on its teaching staff since 2011. He was still a teenager when he was named conductor of the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul in Montreal in 2008.
“On paper, that sounds ridiculously young to be leading one of the best church choirs in the country,” says music producer Scott Tresham, who first worked with de Souza while producing a choral concert for CBC. “But he’s an old soul, with a natural musical ability and a deep understanding of the people who make it.
“It may seem like a no-brainer now, but at the time I think it was a pretty gutsy hire.”
Also in the gutsy hire category is the decision by COC music director Johannes Debus to use de Souza for two performances of The Marriage of Figaro at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in February. However, de Souza has been conducting rehearsals and coaching singers for the company for three years.
“Years ago Jordan came to audition for our young artist program. I was struck by his musical skills and his effervescent esprit,” says Debus. Since de Souza was so far beyond needing additional training, the COC “decided to invite him to join us on several productions as assistant conductor.”
In this role, de Souza has worked with some of the most experienced and famous opera singers in the world. Soprano Adrianne Pieczonka called him a “singer’s conductor” for his attention to a performer’s instincts and needs. “He’d be on the podium and flash his warm radiant smile and breathe with me as I’d start to sing, and I felt as if I was in the most capable hands on Earth.”
She worked with him in 2013 on Dialogues des Carmélites as did mezzo-soprano Judith Forst.
“He was so prepared and involved, and I watched him conduct many rehearsals, always moving the opera to the next level with his expectations, kindness and love of the art form,” Forst says. “I knew he was going to have a wonderful career.” Director Tom Diamond met de Souza a few years ago in an Italian production of Julius Caesar where de Souza was assistant conductor.
“He is abundantly gifted, knowledgeable beyond his years, wonderfully personable and genuinely charming, confident, a fine inspired and inspiring musician, a true gentleman and a heck of lot of fun to be around,” Diamond says.
As for de Souza’s youth, Diamond says, “he is not your usual, typical 27-year-old. One might think of a 27-year-old Mozart, not typical in any way.”
The praise is lovely, but de Souza doesn’t let it go to his head. He credits his family with instilling a love of music in all eight children (there is one girl).
“Music is the passion of the family,” he says, adding that his mother was his first piano teacher and his older brothers were great role models.
“That was part of my motivation to excel,” he says. Over time, “onstage was where I felt most at home.”