Rafael Payare: The Maestro Making Montreal His Home

The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) has announced its programming for the 2026-27 season. The upcoming season marks the fifth year for conductor Rafael Payare as the music director of the Canadian institution.

In an article published on March 31, 2026, the Montreal Gazette reported that Rafael Payare is starting to feel like a Montrealer as he prepares for this fifth season with the orchestra.

International Leadership and Appointments

Payare maintains several prominent leadership roles across North America and Europe. In addition to his tenure with the OSM, he is the music director of the San Diego Symphony in California, a position he held for seven seasons as of the 2025-26 term.

He has served as the principal conductor of the Castleton Festival in Virginia since 2015. Payare also holds the title of conductor laureate of the Ulster Orchestra in Northern Ireland, where he previously served as principal conductor and music director from 2014 to 2019.

Biographical Background and Education

Born on February 23, 1980, in Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela, Payare is a graduate of El Sistema, the national social action music programme of Venezuela. His parents are Juan R. Payare, a city cartographer, and Trina Torres de Payare, an elementary school teacher.

Payare began his musical studies at age 14 at the Núcleo in Puerto la Cruz, where he focused on the French horn. He later graduated from the Universidad Nacional Experimental de Las Artes. His early professional career included serving as the principal horn for the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra.

He transitioned to conducting studies in 2004 under José Antonio Abreu. In May 2012, Payare won first prize at the Malko Competition for Young Conductors.

Following his competition success, Payare served as an assistant conductor to Claudio Abbado during Abbado’s work with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra. He also worked as an assistant to Daniel Barenboim at the Staatsoper Berlin and as an assistant to Lorin Maazel at the Castleton Festival.

Recent Artistic Repertoire

During the 2025-26 season, Payare led the San Diego Symphony through a complete cycle of symphonies by Mahler and Shostakovich, including Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony and Mahler’s Seventh. Other performances included Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony, Beethoven’s First Symphony, and Mendelssohn’s Third Symphony.

The San Diego season also featured a two-week Brahms festival that included the German Requiem, the Violin Concerto performed by Leonidas Kavakos, and all four Brahms symphonies. The orchestra performed Gabriela Ortiz’s ecology-themed cello concerto, Dzonot, featuring Alisa Weilerstein, who is Payare’s spouse.

With the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal during the 2025-26 season, Payare opened with live performances of Berlioz’s Damnation of Faust. The programming included Mahler’s Fourth and Ninth Symphonies and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.

The OSM’s 2025-26 season also featured several high-profile soloists and productions, including:

• Beethoven’s Piano Concerto featuring Emanuel Ax
• Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto performed by Bruce Liu
• Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro

Payare’s appointment as chief conductor of the Ulster Orchestra began with the 2014-2015 season following a guest appearance in October 2013. He was later named music director in October 2016 before concluding his directorship at the end of the 2018-2019 season.