About our Music Director

Linus Lerner, DMA

A native of Brazil, Linus Lerner has conducted orchestras, operas, choruses and instrumental groups at home, in the United States, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Spain and Mexico.

He is music director of SASO in Tucson and artistic director of the Bayou City Performing Arts in Houston. He’s previously served as associate conductor for Opera in the Ozarks, the Tallahassee Youth Symphony Orchestra and University of Arizona Philharmonic. He also was assistant conductor for the Arizona Opera.

International guest conducting engagements include the Orchestra Nacional de Valles in Spain, the Symphony and Chamber Orchestras of Porto Alegre in Brazil, the International Opera Workshop in the Czech Republic, the International Opera Workshop in Bulgaria and the Solistas Ensamble of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico. He's also guest conducted The Brooklyn Opera Company and the University of Colorado at Boulder opera.
Linus completed his musical arts doctorate degree in orchestral conducting at the University of Arizona, where he conducted the UA symphony orchestra in performances and operas in Tucson and led their 2002 Mexico tour.

He holds a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from Florida State University, where he was assistant conductor of the FSU Orchestra and led the group in the American premier of the opera Procedura Penale. Linus also holds a master’s degree in voice performance from the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati and a bachelor’s degree in choral conducting at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil.

Linus has 20 years of experience as a choral conductor, working with more than 40 groups and participating in numerous tours, festivals and competitions. He provides services as a chorus clinician, voice teacher and voice coach in the United States, Mexico and Brazil. He also has sung in many operas and concerts, and received awards in voice competitions.

---