Kent Moussault (Amsterdam, 12 October 1993) is a Dutch‑Japanese conductor and composer active across opera, symphonic repertoire, and contemporary music. He is known for his strong theatrical instinct, clear musical leadership, and a particular affinity with new and multidisciplinary work. Moussault combines an expanding international conducting career with an active practice as a composer and media artist.

 

He studied orchestral conducting at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague with Jac van Steen and Kenneth Montgomery, and completed his Master of Music in Conducting at 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. His musical development was further shaped through studies and masterclasses with conductors including Riccardo Muti, Karina Canellakis, Jorma Panula, Johannes Schlaefli, Nicolás Pasquet, Otto Tausk, and Joseph Swensen. Alongside conducting, he studied composition at the Conservatory of Amsterdam with Wim Henderickx, Joël Bons, and Willem Jeths.

 

Moussault is active in opera across the Netherlands and internationally. At De Nederlandse Reisopera, he notably progressed within a single production from assistant conductor to head of music, and subsequently to main conductor, reflecting the company’s confidence in his musical and theatrical leadership. Recent and upcoming engagements include assistant conductor positions with the Radio Philharmonisch Orkest for Gounod’s Faust (2025, Stéphane Denève), the Nederlands Reisopera for the double bill The Stronger (G. Barry) and Hagar (J. P. de Graaff, world premiere, 2025), and Opera Zuid for Le Villi (Puccini) and Silencio (Fadael). In 2024 he conducted nine performances of the new family opera Pirate Queen by Monique Krüs for the Dutch Touring Opera. Earlier engagements include the Dutch National Opera Academy, Hollands Diep, a takeover performance of Bizet’s Carmen at the JK Tyl Theatre Plzeň, and a last‑minute debut conducting Handel’s Theodora at the International Bach Festival Gran Canaria in 2023, marking the work’s first performance on the Canary Islands.

 

On the concert podium, Moussault has worked with orchestras and ensembles such as the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest(NLD), PhilZuid, the Amsterdam Chamber Orchestra, the North Netherlands Orchestra, PhilZuid(NLD), the New Japan Philharmonic, and the Red Note Ensemble. He has toured extensively, including multiple concert tours through China in 2023–2024 and again in 2025, the latter featuring Hollow Knight in Concert with Music Engine. His repertoire spans from the classical core to the most demanding twentieth‑ and twenty‑first‑century works, and he has conducted numerous world premieres and studio recordings with ensembles including Catchpenny Ensemble, Hebrides Ensemble, and Red Note Ensemble.

 

As a composer, Moussault writes for orchestra, chamber ensembles, and multimedia projects. His work includes commissions for orchestral and chamber ensembles, game and film soundtracks, and interdisciplinary concert formats, and his music has been performed internationally. In 2022 he founded MoussaultArt‑Music, expanding his activities in media composition and cross‑disciplinary collaboration. He is also active as a lecturer, teaching media composition, game audio, orchestration, and conducting at 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 (jury unanimous), 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.