Bio — Kent Moussault

The Dutch-Japanese conductor Kent Moussault (1993) is active across opera, symphonic repertoire, and contemporary music, and combines a growing international conducting career with work as a composer. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in orchestral conducting from the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, where he studied with Jac van Steen and Kenneth Montgomery, and a Master’s degree from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland under Garry Walker and Martyn Brabbins. In 2023–2024 he was a Conducting Fellow at the Tokyo College of Music, working closely with Junichi Hirokami and Toshifumi Tashiro. Further artistic guidance came from conductors including Riccardo Muti, Karina Canellakis, Jorma Panula, Johannes Schlaefli, Nicolás Pasquet, Otto Tausk, and Joseph Swensen.

Moussault’s opera engagements span a wide range of companies in the Netherlands and abroad. Recent and upcoming productions include assistant conductor positions at the Radio Philharmonisch Orkest for Gounod’s Faust (2025, with Stéphane Denève), the Nederlands Reisopera (The Stronger / Hagar, 2025), and Opera Zuid (Le Villi / Silencio, 2025). In 2024 he conducted nine performances of the new children’s opera Pirate Queen for the Dutch Touring Opera. Earlier engagements include work with the Dutch National Opera Academy, music theatre company Hollands Diep, and a takeover performance of Bizet’s Carmen at the JK Tyl Theatre Plzeň. In 2023 he stepped in at short notice to conduct Handel’s Theodora at the International Bach Festival Gran Canaria, marking the work’s premiere on the Canary Islands.

Equally active on the concert podium, Moussault has led orchestras such as the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, PhilZuid, the Amsterdam Chamber Orchestra, the North Netherlands Orchestra, and the Red Note Ensemble. He has toured internationally, including extensive tours through China in 2023–2024 and again in 2025, the latter featuring the music of Hollow Knight with Music Engine. His repertoire spans classical through contemporary works, with a particular affinity for new music. He has conducted numerous world premieres and studio recordings with ensembles such as Catchpenny Ensemble, Hebrides Ensemble, and Red Note Ensemble.

As a composer, he has written for orchestra, chamber ensembles, and multimedia projects, including commissions for the Dutch Brass Band Championships and game and film soundtracks. He founded MoussaultArt-Music in 2022, expanding his work in media composition and cross-disciplinary projects. He is also active as a lecturer, teaching media composition, game audio, orchestration, and conducting at the ArtEZ Conservatoire and the HKU University of the Arts Utrecht.

Moussault is the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions, including first prize at the Call for Conductors Budapest Competition 2023, the Young Conductors Award Hilversum 2016, and scholarships from the Mengelberg Stiftung, the Kersjesfonds, the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, and the International Association of Richard Wagner Societies.