Jaume Santonja has been appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano starting from the 2022/23 season. Former associate conductor of the Euskadiko Orkestra - Basque National Orchestra – he is a regular guest of the main orchestras in his native Spain: Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España - OCNE, Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana - OCV, Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife - OST, Orquesta Filarmónica de Málaga, Real Filharmonía de Galicia, Orquesta Sinfónica de Bilbao, Oviedo Filarmonía.

Former Assistant Conductor of the world-renown City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in the UK, Santonja conducts the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Phion Orkest, Philharmonie Zuidnederland, Belgrade Philharmonic, among many others.

In June 2020 he was selected among the four most promising young conductors to participate in the exclusive masterclasses with Iván Fischer and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam.

Jaume Santonja is the founder of the AbbatiaViva music collective and enjoys the activity of music arranger and orchestrator, as well as a passionate composer for chamber music works.

Santonja holds a Master of Music (Conducting) from the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp and a Master of Music (Percussion) from Amsterdam Conservatorium. He studied for his Bachelor’s degree at Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya in Barcelona (ESMuC).

Prior to focusing his activity on orchestra conducting Jaume Santonja was principal percussionist at the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra for seven seasons, and as a student was a member of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and the Verbier Festival Orchestra where he had the privilege to play under conductors such as Mariss Jansons, Daniele Gatti, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Valery Gergiev, Pierre Boulez, Andris Nelsons, Zubin Mehta, James Levine, Charles Dutoit, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and others