SIMON RIVARD

Music Director of Edmonton Opera and the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra

Simon Rivard is one of the most sought-after conductors on the Canadian music scene, as demonstrated by his recent appointments as Music Director of both the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra and Edmonton Opera. 

The 2025/26 season marks the beginning of Rivard’s tenure with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, where he will lead Haydn’s Creation, among other programming. With Edmonton Opera, he leads the world premiere of Cusson & Vavrek’s Indians on Vacation, a new opera based on a novel by Thomas King, and Wagner’s Siegfried. Additionally, Simon débuts with the Lapland Chamber Orchestra (Finland), in a world premiere by one of today’s leading composers, Kalevi Aho. This season also sees Rivard on the podium with Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Orchestre Métropolitain, Orchestre classique de Montréal, and Orchestre symphonique du Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, among others. As of September 2025, he will teach Orchestral conducting at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal.

Rivard has conducted orchestras across North America and Europe, such as Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Orchestre Métropolitain, Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Toronto Summer Music Festival Orchestra, Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra (Switzerland), and the Göteborgs Symfoniker (Sweden). Recently, he made his début with Opéra de Montréal with Puccini’s La bohème. 

He has collaborated with artists such as Barbara Hannigan, Kerson Leong, Daniel Lozakovich, Matt Haimovitz, Charles Richard-Hamelin, and Julie Boulianne, among others. In 2022, he was a finalist of the Princess Astrid International Music Competition of the Trondheim Symfoniorkester (Norway). He continues to share his love of contemporary music programming through collaborations with The Happenstancers (Canada), performing works by Unsuk Chin, Steve Reich, Matthew Ricketts, and Nahre Sol.

May 2025
Not to be altered or copied without permission.

  • From 2018 to 2022, he was the Resident Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, where he was mentored by Gustavo Gimeno and Sir Andrew Davis. He has ​​assisted and been a cover conductor for world-class artists such as Gianandra Noseda, Sir Donald Runnicles, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, John Storgårds, Barbara Hannigan, and Eun-sun Kim. From 2018 through 2024, he was the Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra. Between 2020 and 2022, he served as the Associate Conductor of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir.

    He is an alumni of Equilibrium Young Artists (2019-2023), Barbara Hannigan's mentorship program for early-career professional musicians. In 2018, he was invited to participate in the first Conducting Mentorship Program at the Verbier Festival Academy (Switzerland). In addition to receiving a Special Prize, he was subsequently reinvited to coach the 2022 Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra. 

    Born in Montréal, Rivard studied violin performance and orchestral conducting at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal and McGill University. He has been mentored by Raffi Armenian, Alexis Hauser, Guillaume Bourgogne, and Jean-Sébastien Vallée, among others. 

Dean Artists represents Simon Rivard worldwide.

Morgan Reid
Managing Director & Artist Manager
morgan@deanartists.com

CONTACT

Loren Graziano
Associate Artist Manager
loren@deanartists.com

“Rivard is a truly inspired conductor who is in command of his musicians. He takes beautiful care of articulation and architecture.”

— Le Devoir

  • Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (Gabriel Fournier, 2023)

  • Orchestre classique de Montréal, Brent Callis (2022)

  • Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (Gabriel Fournier, 2023)

  • Orchestre symphonique de Laval (2024)

  • Toronto Summer Music Festival (Lucky Tang, 2024)