Musical America Artist of the Year 2010

Berlin Philharmonic Concertmaster 1963-1993

Sony Classical artist, JUNO Award winner, and one of the rare musicians to enjoy major international careers both as violinist and conductor, Alexandre Da Costa is Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Orchestre Philharmonique du Québec and Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of Mexico’s Orquesta Sinfónica Sinaloa de las Artes. Born in Montreal, he displayed exceptional talent from a young age, performing public concerts on both violin and piano by the age of nine and quickly attracting national attention as a prodigious dual-instrument virtuoso. Encouraged early on by Charles Dutoit, he began performing as a violin soloist with orchestra while still in his teens.

Da Costa holds a Master’s Degree and First Prize in Violin from the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec and a Bachelor’s Degree in Piano Performance from the University of Montreal. He later studied in Madrid at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía with the legendary Zakhar Bron and completed advanced studies in Vienna. Parallel to his violin career, he developed a deep commitment to conducting, training in Austria and Germany with renowned mentors such as Christian Schulz and Josep Caballé-Domenech.

Today, Alexandre Da Costa is considered one of the most versatile and sought-after conductors of his generation. He has led or performed more than two thousand concerts across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, appearing in major venues such as Vienna’s Musikverein, Berlin’s Philharmonie, Carnegie Hall, and Beijing’s Poly Theater. As guest conductor and soloist, he has collaborated with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the symphony orchestras of Vienna, Berlin, Montreal, Toronto, Prague, Dresden, Bergen, Buffalo, the BBC Concert Orchestra, Spain’s National Radio & TV Orchestra, and many others.

Recent conducting engagements include the Vienna Symphony (Wiener Symphoniker), the Queen Sofía Chamber Orchestra of Madrid, the Basque National Symphony, the Krakow Philharmonic, the Seville Royal Symphony, and the Córdoba Symphony. His 2026–27 season features guest conducting invitations in Germany, the USA, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, and Mexico.

As a solo violinist, he has worked with many of the world’s leading conductors including Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Leonard Slatkin, Lorin Maazel, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Tugan Sokhiev, Vasily Petrenko, Matthias Bamert, John Axelrod, Johannes Wildner, and Peter Oundjian. His performances have been broadcast on the BBC, WDR, CBC, NPR, ORF and many other major outlets. He has premiered works by Elliott Carter, Michael Daugherty, Lorenzo Palomo, Paul Sarcich, Jean Lesage and Airat Ichmouratov, and he maintains an active chamber music career with artists such as Menahem Pressler, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Olga Kern, Matt Haimowitz, and Hélène Mercier.

A prolific recording artist, Da Costa has released 28 albums on labels including Sony Classical, Warner Classics, JVC/Victor, Naxos, ATMA and Universal. His recording of Michael Daugherty’s violin concertos with the Montreal Symphony won the 2012 JUNO Award for Classical Album of the Year, and his Beethoven Concerto with Klezmer cadenzas by Airat Ichmouratov was named CD of the Year by The Washington Post. His recent albums Stradivarius at the Opera (with the Vienna Symphony), Stradivarius baROCK and Stradivarius Je me souviens all achieved best-seller status.

Winner of many prizes and awards from institutions such as the Sarasate International Violin Competition and the Canada Council for the Arts, as well as the Medal of the Québec National Assembly.

A dedicated educator, Da Costa has taught masterclasses worldwide and served as Associate Professor and Head of Strings at Edith Cowan University in Australia. He has been invited to the Sydney Conservatorium, the University of Toronto, and the conservatories of Montreal, Madrid, and Shanghai, and has worked as a consultant for the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and as a TEDx speaker. As concertmaster, he has led major orchestras such as the Vienna Symphony, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, and the Singapore Symphony under conductors including Philippe Jordan, Tugan Sokhiev, Günter Herbig and Lorin Maazel.

As an artistic leader and administrator, he has served as Artistic Director of the Stradivaria Festival since 2012, President of StradEdgy Inc. since 2018, and Artistic Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique du Québec since 2019 and the Orquesta Sinfónica Sinaloa de las Artes since 2025. Recognized internationally as an expert on rare violins, he has studied and played more than 1,000 instruments by makers such as Stradivari, Guarneri del Gesù, Amati and Guadagnini.

Highly appreciated in the pop world, he has performed and conducted alongside major artists such as Gino Vannelli, Yandel, Mariah Carey, Ginette Reno, Roch Voisine, Robert Charlebois and Claude Dubois.

Alexandre Da Costa performs on the 1701 “Deveault” Stradivarius, generously loaned by Guy and Maryse Deveault.