Valentines by Candlelight

Experience an evening of romance, lyricism, and timeless melodies. The Orchestra is joined by special guest vocalists from the Syracuse University Setnor School of Music.

Featured artist

Austin Chanu, conductor

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

In the 2025–26 season, Austin made debuts with The Syracuse Orchestra, the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra. He was also named a finalist in The Mahler Competition 2026 and will compete in June, conducting the Bamberger Symphoniker. Recent guest conducting appearances include The Philadelphia Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Filarmonica Banatul Timișoara, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and Omaha Symphony.

Austin was Assistant Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra, assisting Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He co-led a project to restore and elevate underperformed works by American composer William Grant Still, helping create and conduct the world premiere of a newly restored edition of Still’s Wood Notes.

He made his subscription debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra conducting Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. Broad Street Review praised his interpretation, writing that “the orchestra never sounded better as Chanu led with primal energy and shamanistic insight into the music.”

With a background as a composer, Austin is passionate about contemporary music. He was a teaching artist and conductor for the LA Philharmonic Association’s Associate Composer Program and a Conducting Fellow at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, where he studied with Cristian Măcelaru. The Eastman School of Music commissioned him to compose an orchestral work for its centennial celebration; he conducted its world premiere in fall 2021.

Austin was also Music Director of the Los Angeles Music and Art School, where he led and developed the artistic direction of the youth orchestra, choirs, and jazz band. Drawing on his Latino heritage, he supported representation for the program’s predominantly Latinx students and families through repertoire selection.

He also has extensive experience in jazz and musical theatre, performing on woodwinds in musical pit orchestras and jazz ensembles in Los Angeles.

Austin holds a B.M. in Music Composition from the USC Thornton School of Music, graduating magna cum laude, and an M.M. and DMA in Orchestral Conducting from the Eastman School of Music.