MANOJ KAMPS is a conductor, theatre maker, and curator working at the intersections of contemporary opera, symphonic/choral music, and creation. Known for combining rigorous musicianship with imaginative, concept-driven programming, Manoj brings an unusually broad artistic range to their work — spanning orchestral conducting, opera co-creation, curatorial direction, and compositional thinking — and has established a reputation for productions that are ambitious, musically precise, socially engaged, and that attract widespread attention and acclaim.
Manoj has been invited to work at Dutch National Opera, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Asko|Schönberg (now Het Muziek), the Netherlands Chamber Choir, Cappella Amsterdam, the Orchestra of the 18th Century, Opera North, London Sinfonietta, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Philharmonia, among many others. They have appeared at the Holland Festival, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Prototype Festival (New York), Cervantino (Mexico), Aldeburgh Festival, and the Southbank Centre.
HIGHLIGHTS
- The Shell Trial by Pulitzer prize-winning duo Ellen Reid/Roxie Perkins (Dutch National Opera & Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, 2024) — world premiere of a new opera co-created by Manoj, reviewed favourably in the New York Times and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung a.o.
- Così fan tutte (Orchestra of the 18th Century, 2023) — a nationally toured new production co-created with director Lisenka Heijboer Castañón that received 5/5 stars in national newspaper Trouw
- someday we’ll find us (Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, 2023) — an acclaimed unorthodox season opening pairing Björk, Sondheim, Debussy, and Rick van Veldhuizen
- UK première of Reich/Richter by Steve Reich and Gerhard Richter (London Sinfonietta, 2023) — praised by The Times and The Guardian
- Anders als die Andern (Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, 2024), a celebration and commemoration of Weimar-era queer Berlin
- FAUST [working title] (Dutch National Opera / Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, 2020), a large-scale new opera created under tight covid constraints
- Händel’s Giulio Cesare and Verdi’s La Traviata (Opera North)
- The Rite of Spring (Nederlands Studentenorkest, culminating at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam)
- performances of Morton Feldman’s For Samuel Beckett with I Solisti (2024) and Het Muziek (2020)
- World premiere of Hilda Paredes’ Ivors award-winning Harriet (Muziektheater Transparant / HERMESensemble, featuring Claron McFadden) — toured to Cervantino (Mexico), Huddersfield, Rotterdam Opera Days, Lyon, and Antwerp
- Concert series with Cappella Amsterdam and the Netherlands Chamber Choir
WORLD PREMIERES
Manoj has premiered works by composers including Ellen Reid, Louis Andriessen, Michel van der Aa, Seung-Won Oh, Calliope Tsoupaki, Rick van Veldhuizen, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Daan Janssens, Spinvis, Rob Zuidam, Anna Clyne, and Christiaan Richter. Dutch premières include works by Peter Eötvös and Karlheinz Stockhausen, as well as William Basinski’s Disintegration Loops (Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Holland Festival 2023). Further premières include the world première of Hilda Paredes’ Harriet (Muziektheater Transparant / HERMESensemble, featuring Claron McFadden) — toured to Cervantino, Huddersfield, Rotterdam Opera Days, Lyon, and Antwerp — and the US semi-staged première of MILA, Great Sorcerer by Andrea Clearfield (Prototype Festival, New York, with The Knights and the New York Virtuoso Singers).
BACKGROUND
Manoj was selected from hundreds of international applicants as Junior Fellow in Orchestral Conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester (2015–2017), working with the BBC Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Manchester Camerata under Sir Mark Elder, Clark Rundell, and Mark Heron. In 2017, Manoj was selected for Bernard Haitink’s coveted conducting masterclass in Lucerne and for Carlo Rizzi’s inaugural masterclass at Dutch National Opera. In 2016, Manoj was mentored by Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence; they also assisted conductors including Iván Fischer, Andrew Manze and Simon Halsey. Manoj holds degrees in orchestral conducting, choral conducting and composition from the Royal Conservatoire of the Hague.
Born in Sri Lanka, and raised Dutch/British, Manoj is a passioned advocate for inclusion and education within the arts. Their experiences as a queer, nonbinary person of colour give them a unique perspective and position within the classical field.