Kevin John Edusei (born 5 August 1976) is a German conductor.
Biography Born in Bielefeld, Edusei studied orchestral conducting, classical percussion and sound engineering ("Tonmeister") at the Berlin University of the Arts and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, where his teachers included Jac van Steen and Ed Spanjaard.
Edusei held a conducting scholarship at the 2004 Aspen Music Festival, where he was mentored by David Zinman. His other mentors included Kurt Masur, Péter Eötvös, Marc Albrecht, Peter Gülke and Sylvain Cambreling. In 2004, he became assistant conductor of the Ensemble Modern, Frankfurt, and served on the conducting staff of the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar for two seasons.
From the 2004-2005 season, Edusei served as First Kapellmeister and Deputy Generalmusikdirektor at the Theater Bielefeld. From 2007 to 2011, he worked in the same position at the Staatstheater Augsburg. He was a prize-winner at the 2007 Lucerne Festival Academy conducting masterclass, under the guidance of Pierre Boulez and Péter Eötvös and in 2008 he was the first-prize recipient in the Dimitris Mitropoulos Conducting Competition in Athens. Edusei is an alumnus of the Deutsche Bank Stiftung Akademie Musiktheater heute and the Dirigentenforum of the German Music Council.
In 2013, Edusei was named Chief Conductor of the Munich Symphony Orchestra. He continued in this post until the 2021/2022 season.
From 2015 to 2019, Edusei was Chief Conductor of the Konzert Theater Bern, having been named principal guest conductor in 2014. During his tenure, he led new productions of Peter Grimes, Salome, Ariadne auf Naxos, Bluebeard's Castle, Tannhäuser, Tristan und Isolde, Káťa Kabanová and a cycle of the Mozart–Da Ponte operas.
Edusei's guest conducting work has included his debut at the BBC Proms in August 2017 with the Chineke! Orchestra. In 2022, he returned to The Proms for its annual concert of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, with Chineke! Orchestra.
Edusei first guest-conducted the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra (FWSO) in September 2021. He subsequently served as the FWSO's principal guest conductor for three seasons, as of the 2022–2023 season.
In the UK, Edusei made his debut with the Royal Ballet and Opera, Covent Garden, in the autumn of 2022, conducting Puccini's La bohème. In September 2025, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra announced the appointment of Edusei as its conductor-in-residence at Cadogan Hall for the 2025-2026 season.
Awards 2007: Prize Winner, Lucerne Festival Academy 2008: 1st Prize Dimitri Mitropoulos Conducting Competition
Recordings OrchestraAlbumSoloist (if any)LabelRelease yearMunich Symphony OrchestraEinschoch6: Die Stadt springtEinschoch6Solo Musica2015Munich Symphony OrchestraTchaikovsky: Extracts from the NutcrackerSolo Musica2016Tonkünstler OrchestraEnjott Schneider: Shadows in the DarkWERGO2016Tonkünstler OrchestraEnjott Schneider: Bach, Dracula, Vivaldi & Co.Csaba Kelemen, trumpet, Stefan Langbein, tromboneWERGO2016Chineke! OrchestraDvořák & SibeliusSignum Records2017Munich Symphony OrchestraSchubert: Symphonies Nos 4 & 7 (four-movement realisation of Symphony No. 7)Solo Musica2017Munich Symphony OrchestraSchubert Symphonies Nos 5 & 6Solo Musica2018Bern Symphony OrchestraKorngold & Mozart: Violin ConcertosClaves Records2018Bern Symphony OrchestraShostakovich, Weinberg & KobekinAnastasia Kobekina, celloClaves Records2019Munich Symphony Orchestra1939Fabiola Kim, violinSolo Musica2019Munich Symphony OrchestraSchubert Symphonies Nos 3 & 7Solo Musica2020The Royal OperaPuccini: La bohèmeAilyn Pérez (Mimì), Danielle de Niese (Musetta), Juan Diego Flórez (Rodolfo), Andrey Zhilikhovsky (Marcello)RBO StreamLa Bohème (2022), Royal Ballet & Opera Stream.2022Year of recordingThe Royal OperaPuccini: Madama ButterflyAsmik Grigorian (Cio-Cio San), Joshua Guerrero (Pinkerton), Lauri Vasar (Sharpless), Hongni Wu (Suzuki), Ya-Chung Huang (Goro), Jeremy White (The Bonze)Opus Arte2024London Symphony OrchestraRózsa: Violin Concerto – Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 2Roman SimovicLSO Live2024
References
External links Official website of Kevin John Edusei Intermusica agency page on Kevin John Edusei