Jac van Steen was born in the Netherlands and studied orchestra and choir conducting at the Brabants Conservatory of Music. Since participating in the BBC Conductors Seminar in 1985, he has enjoyed a busy career and held the posts of music director and chief conductor of the Dutch National Ballet, the Bochum and Nuremberg Symphony Orchestras, Staatskapelle Weimar, Dortmund Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra and Musikkollegium Winterthur. He has been principal guest conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and at present holds the same post with the Ulster Orchestra and Prague Symphony Orchestra.
Since 2013 he has also been very active in the field of opera. He worked with various productions of Opera North (UK), and frequently returns to the Garsington Opera (UK), Volksoper Vienna (Austria) and Oslo Opera (Norway). He has also worked with the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, presenting the Jette Parker Young Artists Showcase 2018.
Jac van Steen works regularly with major British orchestras, and made his Tokyo début with the New Japan Philharmonic. He is professor of conducting at the Royal Conservatory of Music in The Hague and works regularly with the Royal Northern College of Music and Chetham’s School of Music (Manchester) as well as the Royal Academy and Royal College of Music (London).
