Leslie Suganandarajah has been named music director in Salzburg Landestheater, succeeding Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla. Leslie, 35, is presently Kappellmeister with the Bruckner Orchester Linz.
Born in Colombuthurai/Sri Lanka, Leslie Suganandarajah moved to Germany with his family when he was two years old. He received piano, flute and organ lessons while he was at school. After graduating from high school in 2002 Leslie Suganandarajah started studying music at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hanover; in 2004 he switched to the Musikhochschule Lübeck to study piano under Jacques Ammon; at the same time he studied orchestral conducting in Gerd Müller-Lorenz’s class.
In October 2009 Leslie Suganandarajah started studying conducting at the Musikhochschule ‘Franz Liszt’ in Weimar under Nicolas Pasquet, Anthony Bramall, Gunther Kahlert, Golo Berg and Martin Hoff. In April 2011 Leslie Suganandarajah was accepted into the Dirigentenforum (‘conductors’ forum’) (support programme of the Deutscher Musikrat).
After a successful trial performance he received the Hermann-Hildebrandt scholarship for young conductors for the 2014/15 season, and as a result an assistant position with Michael Sanderling and the Dresdener Philharmonie, which also included some conducting roles.
During the 2012/13 season Leslie Suganandarajah filled the position of deputy conductor at the Theater Koblenz. From the start of the 2015/16 season he was the principal conductor in the same venue. He was the principal conductor at the Landestheater Linz for the 2017/18 season.
