Hailed as “refreshing and expressive in his handling of the orchestra” (El Informador, Jalisco) Catalan conductor Oriol Sans has inspired musicians and audiences across North America and Europe. Mr. Sans has conducted concerts with outstanding orchestras and ensembles including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, the Santa Fe Symphony, the Michigan Chamber Winds and Strings, the New Mexico Philharmonic, the San Juan Symphony (Colorado), the Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco in Guadalajara (Mexico), the Flint Symphony Orchestra, the Sheboygan Symphony, the International Contemporary Ensemble and the Four Corners Ensemble. He has lead performances with a long list of renowned soloists that includes Yoonshin Song, Wey Yu, Tony Arnold, Amy Porter, Aaron Berofsky, Jourdan Urbach, Álvaro Bitrán, Íride González, Alan Pingarrón, Jason Vieaux, Alexander Gavrylyuk, Anderson & Roe Piano Duo, Alon Goldstein and Wu Han.

Mr. Sans is Assistant Professor and Director of Orchestral Activities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His responsibilities include directing the Symphony Orchestra, conducting the opera productions, and teaching graduate conducting students. Under his musical direction, the University production of Così fan tutte received 2nd prize from the National Opera Association. Before joining the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he was Associate Director of Orchestras at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where he directed both the University Philharmonia Orchestra and the Contemporary Directions Ensemble (CDE). With CDE, Mr. Sans fostered projects with celebrated composers such as John Luther Adams, Ted Hearne, Julia Wolfe, David T. Little, Tyshawn Sorey and Augusta Read-Thomas.

As Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Youth Orchestra, a position he has held since 2016, Mr. Sans has initiated collaborations with other musical institutions in the community, like the Young Artists Program at the Michigan Opera Theater. Further involved in Michigan, he is one of the finalists for the position of Music Director with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra.

His reputation for working with young musicians has led to several invitations to serve as conducting faculty at leading educational institutions including the Interlochen Summer Academy and Sewanee Summer Music Festival. He is also a frequent conducting clinician and guest conductor for other youth ensembles across North America.

As an opera conductor, his eclectic repertoire includes performances of Verdi’s Falstaff, Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro and Così fan tutte, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Jake Heggie’s Two Remain. In 2018 he conducted a production of Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors at the Michigan Opera Theatre, and more recently he collaborated with the Opera Theatre Saint Louis in a workshop of Awakenings, a new opera by composer Tobias Picker that will be premiered in 2022. In the Fall of 2021 he conducted a production of Puccini’s Giani Schicchi with the Tulsa Opera.

A native of Catalonia, Spain, Mr. Sans studied Orchestral and Choral Conducting at the Barcelona Conservatory, receiving the school’s Honors Award in both specialties upon graduation. Following his training in Spain, he studied with Kenneth Kiesler at the University of Michigan where he received his Master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting and his Doctorate in Musical Arts. In addition to his degrees in music, Mr. Sans also holds a degree in Humanities from the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona.