Nicolas Ellis

Nicolas Ellis is the Principal Guest Conductor of Les Violons du Roy, Music Director of the Orchestre National de Bretagne, and Artistic Director of the Orchestre de l’Agora, which he founded in Montréal in 2013.

Nicolas is one of the most active conductors on the Canadian classical scene. He has been invited to lead the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, I Musici de Montréal, the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Opéra de Québec, and Opéra de Montréal. Internationally, he has appeared with the Graz Opera, Opéra de Rennes, the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra in Finland, the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra, and the San Diego Symphony, among others.

Key artistic encounters have profoundly shaped his development, notably his long-standing collaboration with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Orchestre Métropolitain, with whom he served as Artistic Collaborator from 2018 to 2023; and his work as assistant conductor to Raphaël Pichon, music director of Ensemble Pygmalion, on opera productions at the Opéra-Comique, the Aix-en-Provence Festival, and the Salzburg Festival.

At the helm of the Orchestre de l’Agora, Nicolas conducts a wide-ranging repertoire—from Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea to Mahler’s Symphony No. 3. Central to the ensemble’s mission, he has created initiatives including musical creation projects for teenagers living with mental health challenges, educational music workshops for children, and a monthly concert series at the Bordeaux Prison in Montréal.

Nicolas Ellis is the recipient of the 2017 Fernand-Lindsay Career Grant and the 2021 Mécénat Musica Prix Goyer.