A refined and passionate conductor, French-born James S. Kahane has been led to conduct first-rate orchestras around the world such as the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Finnish National Radio Symphony Orchestra or the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. He presently holds the positions of Principal Conductor of the Helsinki Chamber Orchestra, Principal Conductor of the Orchestre de Chambre de la Drôme, and Conductor of the Polytech Orchestra in Finland, and was appointed by Susanna Mälkki's as her assistant conductor at the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra for their 2017/2018 season, aged 21 at the time.

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Working regularly with very different repertoires, ranging from early baroque up until the music of our times, Kahane was a guest conductor in many orchestras around the world. Parallel to that, he was asked at the age of 22 by Kristjan Järvi to conduct the Baltic Academies Orchestra in Berlin during their first international tour, and the following year he was offered a conducting fellowship at the Atlantic Music Festival in the United States. In the spring of 2020, he was also invited by Hannu Lintu to be his assistant conductor at the Orchestre de Paris.