Biography
Canadian conductor Naomi Woo is gaining worldwide attention for her spirited dynamism and infectious musicality both on and off the podium. A widely sought-after symphonic and operatic conductor, Woo is currently in her second season as Assistant Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
In the 2025/26 season, Woo makes debuts with the New York Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Royal Northern Sinfonia and the Royal Ballet and Opera, Covent Garden. She also returns to Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain, where she was artistic partner from 2023 to 2025, as well as to the Vancouver Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic and City of London Sinfonia. A renowned advocate for contemporary music she conducts the world premiere of Oliver Leith’s Garland at Bold Tendencies in London and leads a workshop for Huang Ruo’s upcoming opera The Wedding Banquet at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
In previous seasons, Woo has appeared with Toronto Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Montreal Symphony, and National Arts Centre Orchestra in North America and elsewhere with London’s Philharmonia, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Orchestre de Chambre de Luxembourg, and at LSO St. Luke’s in London with the ensemble Tangram Sound, an ensemble devoted to celebrating the vitality of Chinese cultures, and creating new music by transnational Chinese creators.
On the opera stage, she has conducted the Canadian premiere of Du Yun’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Angel’s Bone in Vancouver, Puccini Edgar at Opera Holland Park, Rossini La Cenerentola with English Touring Opera, and the world premiere of Ellis Ludwig-Leone The Night Falls in New York City. Recognised for her collaborative approach and natural command for storytelling and language, Woo has collaboratively created new, genre-bending operatic works with Sasha Amaya and Catherine Kontz (A Certain Sense of Order), Sophie Seita (Beethoven Was a Lesbian), and Alex Ho/Julia Cheng.
A passionate educator, Woo was the music director of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada for their 2024 and 2025 seasons and is the former music director of El Sistema Winnipeg. As a pianist, she has led performances from the piano with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony, and others.
Woo holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, where she was a Gates Cambridge Scholar. She has also studied mathematics, philosophy, and music at Yale College, the Yale School of Music, and Université de Montréal. The 2022 winner of the Canada Council’s prestigious Virginia Parker Prize, Woo is a member of Tapestry Opera’s Women in Musical Leadership programme and was chosen by her mentor Yannick Nézet-Séguin as a member of the Orchestre Métropolitain’s inaugural orchestral conducting academy. She acknowledges generous support over the years from the Manitoba Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, Help Musicians UK, and the BC Arts Council.
Biography
Director François Racine has directed numerous productions with Pacific Opera Victoria, the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, the Opéra de Montréal, the Opéra de Québec, the Festival d’Opéra de Québec, Cincinnati Opera, Edmonton Opera, Opera Lyra Ottawa, and Seattle Opera.
During his time with the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble, he assisted Robert Lepage in the creation of the operas *Erwartung* and *Le Château de Barbe bleue*, and supervised and directed subsequent performances during their world tour. This earned him the title of “Best Artist of the Year 2008–2009” from Seattle Opera for his work with the cast during that tour.
He was acclaimed for his innovative interpretation of Dido and Aeneas in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, in 2010. A collaborator with Kent Nagano and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, he has directed concert versions of several operas, including Tannhäuser, Norma, La Sonnambula, Saint-François d’Assise, and Das Rheingold.
He conducted La Clemenza di Tito at Orford Musique with Yannick Nézet-Séguin at the helm of the Orchestre Métropolitain. Over the years, he has directed productions for the McGill University Opera Studio, where he staged Louis Riel, winner of the Opus Award for “Best Production of the Year 2005”; at the University of Montreal, as well as for the Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, the COC Ensemble, Jeunesses Musicales of Canada, and the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal.
In November 2002, he earned his Master’s degree in Theater from the Université du Québec à Montréal. His thesis focused on the development of dramatic acting skills in opera singers. The excellence of his thesis earned him the André Maréchal Award. Invited to the opera departments at McGill University and the University of Montreal, he teaches acting classes for singers.
He is currently completing a program in performance psychology.
