Boston — Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra have named Samy Rachid the orchestra’s new assistant conductor for a two-year term starting in October 2023. Mr. Rachid succeeds Anna Rakitina, who served in the position from 2019 until this year, and he now joins Earl Lee as one of the BSO’s two assistant conductors. Mr. Rachid will make his scheduled debut with the orchestra during the 2024 Tanglewood season, followed by subscription concerts at Symphony Hall during the BSO’s 2024–25 season.
Samy Rachid is well established internationally as a conductor and cellist. He has his own YouTube channel and, having recorded for Warner Classics, an important discography from his time with the Arod Quartet, a competition-winning group he formed in 2013 with fellow students at the Conservatoire de Paris. During Rachid’s tenure, the quartet was known for its “astonishing maturity” and “mathematical precision” (Strad).
This would help explain how the group was able to win the First Prize and two special prizes at the Carl Nielsen String Quartet Competition in 2015, followed a year later by First Prize and two special prizes at the “Everest of competitions,” the ARD in Munich.
Rachid left the Arod Quartet in 2021 to focus on conducting and, shortly thereafter, won Second Prize in the Tokyo International Music Competition for Conducting and worked for the first time with France’s Orchestre Elektra, who recruited him to be their music director for the 2022-23 season. In 2022, Rachid was a conducting fellow at the Verbier Festival, where he worked with such renowned conductors as Gianandrea Noseda and Klaus Mäkelä and participated in the Gstaad Conducting Academy. There, he worked closely with Jaap von Zweden and became the first French conductor to be awarded the Academy’s Neeme Järvi Prize.
Since 2021, Rachid has conducted the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Gstaad Festival Orchestra, Verbier Festival Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra, PKF Prague Philharmonia, Tokyo Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic, Sinfonie Orchester Biel Solothurn, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestre Symphonique de Mulhouse, and Hungarian Symphony Orchestra Szeged.
Samy Rachid is currently assistant conductor of the Opéra National du Rhin.
Comments from BSO Vice President for Artistic Planning Anthony Fogg underscore the international nature of Rachid’s reputation: “Samy’s impressive international achievements as a cellist, as well as his emerging skills as a conductor of great individuality and insights, make him an especially exciting choice for the BSO … I know that Samy will be a wonderful addition to the BSO family.”
Rachid has expressed himself in similarly glowing terms: “I am overjoyed to be joining the Boston Symphony Orchestra family … I discovered classical music with a recording of Charles Munch with the BSO, which inspired me to become a professional musician … Working with Maestro Nelsons and the wonderful musicians of the BSO is a great honor, and I look forward to becoming part of the Boston community.”
