Stephan MacLeod
Conductor
Bass-baritone
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Geneva-born Stephan MacLeod is a renowned bass-baritone and conductor, founder and artistic director of Gli Angeli Genève, celebrated for his expertise in historically informed performance. He conducts between 40 and 50 concerts annually worldwide, including an increasing number as guest conductor with modern orchestras. Alongside his conducting, MacLeod maintains an active singing career and teaches voice at the Haute École de Musique de Genève and at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague.
In the 2025/26 season, Stephan MacLeod balances his dual career with a vibrant calendar across Europe. With Gli Angeli Genève, he continues the ensemble’s long-term Bach cantata cycle in Geneva and Monthey, where he gives over fifteen concerts each season with his ensemble. Programmes include Bach’s Cantatas for Bass, Missa Veni Sancte Spiritus (Manchicourt), O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht, and themed explorations such as Intimate Biber and Johann Christoph Bach: The Profound Composer. A major Messiah tour takes him to the Netherlands, Belgium, and Switzerland, alongside performances of St Matthew Passion in Le Sentier, Saessolsheim, and Geneva.
He returns to the Goldberg Festival in Gdańsk with Treasures from Bach’s Library and continues his acclaimed La Chambre des Anges recital series in Geneva.
With Les Ambassadeurs – La Grande Écurie and the Chœur de Chambre de Namur, he appears in Rameau’s Dardanus (Isménor and Teucer) at the Bucharest Festival, conducts Bach’s Weimar Cantatas, and performs the bass solo in Caldara’s Oratorio di Santa Francesca Romana. He also sings in St Matthew Passion with the Netherlands Bach Society under Masaaki Suzuki.In November 2025, Aparté releases a landmark 19-CD box set and accompanying book devoted to Bach’s 56 chorale cantatas, recorded with Gli Angeli Genève: a milestone in MacLeod’s ongoing engagement with the composer.
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In the 2024/25 season, MacLeod led performances with Gli Angeli Genève of Bach St. John Passion, Lutheran Masses, Handel’s Messiah, Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri, and Brumel’s Missa Et ecce terrae motus [SM1] in Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, and Hungary. He appeared as soloist with the Noord Nederlands Orkest and Cappella Amsterdam, recording Stravinsky’s Threni, and with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Euskadi and Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne in repertoire ranging from Stravinsky’s Pulcinella to Rameau’s Dardanus. He also conducted the Chœur de Chambre de Namur and Les Ambassadeurs – La Grande Écurie in Mendelssohn’s Walpurgisnacht and served on the jury of the International Conducting Competition in Rotterdam. Alongside his concert work, he recorded new CD’s, including sessions dedicated to Mozart’s wind concertos.
Previous highlights include opening the Musica Antiqua Festival in Bruges, singing and conducting J.S. Bach’s Magnificat with Gli Angeli Genève, conducting Barokkanerne in Oslo and the Hungarian National Philharmonic in Budapest, performing Bach’s Magnificat in the Netherlands and Spain with the Netherlands Bach Society, and singing Bach’s St John Passion and with the Purcell [SM2] Choir and Orfeo Orchestra, and St Matthew Passion with Collegium Vocale Gent. He performed Mendelssohn’s Paulus under Leonardo García Alarcón and gave recitals with Benjamin Righetti and Alexis Kossenko.
MacLeod studied violin and piano before focusing on voice, training at the Geneva Conservatory, with Kurt Moll at the Musikhochschule in Cologne, and Gary Magby at the Haute École de Musique in Lausanne. His singing career began in Germany through collaboration with Reinhard Goebel and Musica Antiqua Köln, which introduced him to the oratorio repertoire. He has since performed under leading conductors including Philippe Herreweghe, Jordi Savall, Masaaki Suzuki, and Michel Corboz.
A passionate interpreter of mélodie, he regularly gives recitals. He has also appeared on opera stages such as La Monnaie in Brussels, La Fenice in Venice, and opera houses in Geneva, Toulouse, Nîmes, Bordeaux, Cologne, and more.
Since 2005, MacLeod has combined his singing with conducting, founding Gli Angeli Genève, which has gained international recognition. He taught voice at the Haute École de Musique in Lausanne from 2013 to 2023, and since September 2023 has been teaching at the Haute École de Musique in Geneva. From 2025, he also teaches at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague.
His discography includes over 100 CDs, many acclaimed by the press.
General Management: Tiben Artists
