Hailed as “one of the great talents in the USA at the moment” by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Brazilian-American conductor Austin Chanu is the newly appointed Music Director of The Syracuse Orchestra. He has also earned recognition as a four time recipient of the Career Assistance Award from the ...

Hailed as “one of the great talents in the USA at the moment” by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Brazilian-American conductor Austin Chanu is the newly appointed Music Director of The Syracuse Orchestra. He has also earned recognition as a four time recipient of the Career Assistance Award from the Solti Foundation U.S., and as the third prize and orchestra prize winner in the Korean National Symphony Orchestra International Conducting Competition.

In the 25-26 season, Austin made debuts with The Syracuse Orchestra, the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra. He has also been named a finalist in The Mahler Competition 2026 and will compete in June conducting the Bamberger Symphoniker. In recent seasons, he has appeared as a guest conductor with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Filarmonica Banatul Timișoara, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and Omaha Symphony.

Previously, Austin was the Assistant Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra, where he assisted Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin. During this time, he co-lead a project to restore, rebuild, and elevate the underperformed works of American composer William Grant Still. He helped create and conducted the world premiere of a newly restored edition of Still’s Wood Notes.

Austin made his subscription debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra conducting Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. Critics commended his interpretation saying, “the orchestra never sounded better as Chanu led with primal energy and shamanistic insight into the music… the orchestra matched Chanu’s confident leadership in a performance of searing energy and heart-thumping passion” (Broad Street Review).

Austin has a passion for contemporary music, stemming from his own background as a composer. He served as a teaching artist and conductor for the LA Philharmonic Association’s Associate Composer Program, as well as a Conducting Fellow at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, where he studied with conductor Cristian Măcelaru. He was commissioned by the Eastman School of Music to compose an orchestral work for the school’s centennial celebration and conducted its world premiere in the Fall of 2021.

Austin was also formerly the Music Director for the Los Angeles Music and Art School, where he conducted and developed the artistic direction for the youth orchestra, choirs, and jazz band. Austin found it rewarding to draw on his Latino heritage to foster representation for the predominantly Latinx students and families in the program through repertoire selection.

In addition to his orchestral background, Austin has extensive experience in jazz and musical theatre styles. While living in Los Angeles, he was a high-call woodwind performer for musical pit orchestras and jazz ensembles.

Austin received a B.M. in Music Composition from the USC Thornton School of Music, graduating Magna cum Laude. He also graduated from the Eastman School of Music with an M.M. and DMA in Orchestral Conducting.

Having performed on four continents and more than forty states, Michael Burritt is one of his generation’s most accomplished percussionists. He is in frequent demand performing concert tours and master classes throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Canada. Mr. Burritt has been soloist with the United ...

Having performed on four continents and more than forty states, Michael Burritt is one of his generation’s most accomplished percussionists. He is in frequent demand performing concert tours and master classes throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Canada. Mr. Burritt has been soloist with the United States Air Force Band, Dallas Wind Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Nexus, The Paris Percussion Group (France), The Amadinda Percussion Group (Hungary), Third Coast Percussion, Ju Percussion Group (Taiwan), Percussion Art Quartet (Germany), and the Amores Percussion Group (Spain). Mr. Burritt has three solo as well as numerous chamber recordings, including his work Home Trilogy, with the world-renown percussion group Nexus and soon to released a new recording of solo and chamber works by Alejandro Viñao with the Grammy Award winning Third Coast Percussion. In 2006 he recorded the Joseph Schwantner Percussion Concerto with the Calgary Wind Ensemble on the Albany label. Burritt recently premiered Fast Forward, a new chamber concerto written expressly for him by Pulitzer Prize winning Composer Joseph Schwantner in celebration of the centennial of the Eastman School.

He has been a featured artist at ten Percussive Arts Society International Conventions. Mr. Burritt has performed solo concerts in some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls including Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, The Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, National Performing Arts Center in Beijing, and The Kennedy Center. He has extensive chamber and orchestral experience and has performed with the Chicago Chamber Musicians, The Chicago Symphony, and The Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra.

Mr. Burritt is also active as a composer, with three concertos to his credit as well as numerous solo and chamber works for marimba and percussion. His works for solo marimba have become standard repertoire for the instrument and are frequently required repertoire on international competitions. Commissions include The World Marimba Competition in Stuttgart Germany, The Paris International Marimba Competition, Nexus, and Paris Percussion Group. Zildjian commissioned Burritt to compose a work in celebration of the company’s 400th Anniversary in 2023 which was premiered by Third Coast Percussion at PASIC 2023. Mr. Burritt is published with Keyboard Percussion Publications, C. Alan, Masters Music, and Innovative Percussion. Burritt is also an artist/clinician and product design/consultant for Malletech, where he has developed his own line of marimba mallets and the MJB Signature Marimba. He is an artist/educational clinician with Zildjian, Evans, and Yamaha Drums. Mr. Burritt was the President of the Percussive Arts Society from 2021–22, a member of the Board of Directors from 1996–2008, a contributing editor for Percussive Notes magazine from 1991¬–2006, and chair of the PAS Keyboard Committee from 2004–2010.

Burritt is the first person to hold the Paul J. Burgett Distinguished Professorship and is Professor of Percussion at The Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he is only the third person in the history of the school to hold this position. Prior to his appointment at Eastman, Mr. Burritt was Professor of Percussion at Northwestern University from 1995–2008, where he developed a program of international distinction. Mr. Burritt received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees, as well as the prestigious Performers Certificate, from the Eastman School of Music.