Jaume Santonja was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano starting from the 2022/23 season.

Former associate conductor of the Euskadiko Orkestra – Basque National Symphony Orchestra – he is a regular guest of the main orchestras in his native Spain: Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España, Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, Real Filharmonía de Galicia, Orquesta Sinfónica de Bilbao, Orquesta de Extremadura, Oviedo Filarmonía, etc.

Former Assistant Conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in the UK, Santonja also conducts the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, the Stavanger Symphony, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, the Phion Orkest, the Philharmonie Zuidnederland, the Belgrade Philharmonic among many others.

In June 2020 he was selected among the four most promising young conductors to participate in the exclusive masterclasses with Iván Fisher and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam.

In the previous season he debuted with the Orchestra of the Fondazione Arena di Verona, the Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna and the Norrlandsoperan in Umeå (Sweden).

In the 2023/24 season, he will conduct the Royal Northern Sinfonia, the Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano e Trento, the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra del Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, the Orchestra del Teatro Lirico di Bari, among others.

Jaume is the founder of the AbbatiaViva music collective, a collective that seeks to explore new ways of presenting and appreciating music. Through this project, Jaume has demonstrated his commitment and passion for the promotion of music and his desire to bring it closer to new audiences.

In terms of academic training, Jaume Santonja has obtained a Master of Music in Conducting at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp, in Belgium, where he benefited from the knowledge and guidance of the institution’s outstanding faculty. In addition, he has a Master of Music in Percussion from the Amsterdam Conservatorium in the Netherlands, where he honed his skills as a percussionist and acquired a solid musical background. Previously, he obtained his Higher Graduate Degree in Percussion at the renowned ESMuC (Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya) in Barcelona, Spain.

Jaume’s passion for music does go beyond his activity as performer, and enjoys writing-composing his own works for orchestra, wind band, chamber music ensembles etc. Also orchestrating and arranging any kind of music material is an activity he is fond of.