Portuguese-American conductor Jacomo Bairos continues to redefine what a conductor can be in the 21st century. He challenges the preconceptions of orchestral repertoire, blurs the lines of genres, and integrates the orchestra into the broader community in new, holistic, and organic ways. Bairos just finished his 8-season tenure as the 17th Music Director for the Amarillo Symphony, is Co-Founder and Artistic Director for Miami’s Nu Deco Ensemble, and performs regularly as a guest conductor with some of the world’s finest orchestras.
Bairos’ performances have been described as “thrilling" (Providence Journal), “inspirational and highly communicative” (Singapore Straits Times), and having a “splendid sense of musicality” (Knoxville Mercury). The New York Times hails Nu Deco Ensemble as “chamber orchestra for the 21st century,” while Billboard called them “a sonically spellbinding experience.”
In the 2019-2020 season, Bairos makes debuts with the Seattle Symphony, the Cincinnati Pops, returns to the Symphonies of San Francisco, Houston, Atlanta, and Sarasota, as well as releases his first studio album with Nu Deco Ensemble. Bairos also is in residency at the Peabody Institute for performances and lectures this fall, and makes his operatic debut with Britten's Turn of the Screw in collaboration with Illuminarts Miami. In June, Bairos made highly successful debuts with the Boston Pops, returned to the Atlanta Symphony and continued his relationship with the Sewanee Music Festival working with America's premier young musicians.
Along with composer Sam Hyken, Bairos is Co-Founder and Artistic Director for Nu Deco Ensemble- "Occasionally, you see or hear something that blows your mind. Last night, Nu Deco Ensemble at Saratoga Performing Arts Center was exactly that" (Saratoga Living). Since its inception in 2015, Nu Deco Ensemble has exploded onto Miami's eclectic musical scene by captivating audiences, holistically engaging with its community, and fusing innovative, genre-bending orchestral performances and collaborations with the highest levels of musical artistry. Nu Deco enters its fifth season with the release of their first studio album (whose first single has gained over 60k streams in less than a week) featuring living composers, popular artist re-imaginations, and unique collaborations with Kishi Bashi and Danay Suarez. Additionally, Nu Deco ensemble has joined the prestigious roster of Red Light Management in Los Angeles, renewed partnerships with the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, and returns to the Boca Festival of the Arts.
In 2021, Bairos’ finished his tenure as the Amarillo Symphony’s 17th Music Director. Throughout his eight seasons in the position, his imaginative and inclusive tenure has fueled tremendous fiscal and artistic growth, fusing classical orchestral traditions with diverse programming and dynamic guest artists from Calssical, Jazz, Middle Eastern, Country, Dance, and Multi-Media worlds. Bairos has overseen the creation of captivating outreach initiatives such as Class Act, SymphonyKids, the Happy-Holiday Pops and established the first ever Composer-in-Residence with young American Chris Rogerson. Bairos has appeared in subscriptions with the Symphonies of Singapore, Atlanta, Grand Rapids, Fort Worth, Alabama, Charleston, Knoxville, and Rhode Island Philharmonic.
Bairos has also appeared with the Detroit and North Carolina Symphonies, the Louisiana Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and directed the National Symphony Orchestra's acclaimed DeClasssified Series along with multiple Pops programs from 2015-2018. Bairos has made numerous returns to the St. Louis, San Diego, Florida, Jacksonville, Charlotte Symphony Orchestras, and recently curated new music performances in Grand Rapids mentoring emerging composers in collaboration with the American Composers Orchestra's Earshot program. International engagements include Malaysian
Philharmonic Orchestra, Leipzig and Oaxaca Symphony Orchestras, as well as Orquesta Sinfónica’s do Porto Casa da Música (Portugal).
Bairos’ Classical artist collaborators include renowned musicians Jeremy Denk, Garrick Ohlsson, Jennifer Koh and mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges to name a few. Additionally, Bairos closely collaborates with some of today’s most groundbreaking and dynamic cross-over artists such as: Academy-Award winning composer, Bryce Dessner, Grammy-winning artists Wyclef Jean, Jacob Collier, Angelique Kidjo, Gregory Porter, as well as Kishi Bashi, Seu Jorge, Bilal, Cory Henry, and Jon Batiste. Since 2014, Bairos has worked on numerous projects and collaborations with multi-platinum singer-songwriter Ben Folds.
Bairos’ musical mentors include the esteemed conductor pedagogue, Gustav Meier, and distinguished Maestro Kurt Masur. From 2010-2013, Bairos studied, apprenticed, and mentored with Robert Spano at the Atalanta Symphony and worked closely with Jorma Panula. In 2012, Bairos was awarded the prestigious Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Scholarship by the U.S. Mendelssohn Foundation and Kurt Masur. Bairos is an orchestral conducting alumnus of both the Peabody Institute and Aspen Music Festival.
A graduate of The Juilliard School, Bairos is an accomplished and award-winning tubist, having given masterclasses and concerts with major festivals and orchestras around the world. Bairos has toured, recorded, and concertized with the New York Philharmonic as well as with the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Cincinnati, and Seattle. He has held principal positions with orchestras in America and Spain, and from 2004-2007 Bairos was Principal Tuba for the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.
Born in Lisbon, Portugal, Bairos is also a Yoga teacher, practitioner of Vipassana Meditation, and works and mentors with underserved children throughout the South Florida and Panhandle-Texas region. He makes his home in Miami, FL.