Néstor Bayona is a Spanish conductor whose career is developing rapidly across the international opera and symphonic scene.
He has been appointed Mackerras Fellow at ENO, where his upcoming engagements include conducting La traviata and Iphigénie en Tauride.
His 2026/27 season also includes engagements with the Orquesta de València, the Tianjin Symphony Orchestra, the Kraków Philharmonic and the Szczecin Philharmonic, among others.
With a career spanning more than a decade, Bayona has established relationships with major orchestras and opera houses across Europe and beyond. In recent seasons, he has conducted symphonic concerts with the Orquesta de Castilla y León, Orquesta Sinfónica de la Radio y Televisión Española, Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias, Oviedo Filarmonía, Orquesta de Extremadura, Bochumer Symphoniker, Kraków Philharmonic, Transylvania State Philharmonic and Târgu Mureş Philharmonic.
His recent symphonic work includes the Spanish premiere of Ravel’s newly discovered Sémiramis: Prélude et Danse at the Palau de la Música Catalana.
His opera engagements include Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette at the Opéra Śląska, Cavalleria rusticana / Pagliacci at the Hungarian Opera in Cluj-Napoca, as well as debuts at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, the Teatro Campoamor in Oviedo and the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw.
His opera experience also includes conducting Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette at the Opera Śląska and Cavalleria rusticana / Pagliacci at the Hungarian Opera in Cluj-Napoca, as well as working with Lawrence Foster on Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande and Berg’s Lulu at the Enescu Festival.
Previously, Bayona was Assistant Conductor at the Opéra de Marseille during the 2018/19 and 2021/22 seasons and has collaborated on productions at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, the Komische Oper in Berlin and the Oper Frankfurt, as well as with Pentatone for the recording of La fanciulla del West.
Bayona studied piano and conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music, where he was awarded the Gold Medal, and continued his studies at the Haute École de Musique de Genève before undertaking postgraduate studies at the Universität der Künste Berlin.
In 2021, he received the Associate of the Royal Northern College of Music (ARNCM) award in recognition of his professional achievements, and in 2015 he received the Ciutat de Lleida International Award for his cultural contribution to his hometown.
He is currently Artistic Director of the Ricard Viñes International Piano Competition and Festival in Lleida.
