NCNM Artistic Advisory Committee
Sean Mayes is serving on the Artistic Advisory Committee of the newly founded NCNM. As a music director, Sean’s work has consistently pushed the boundary of what is possible in developing new & relevant works in musical theatre. Within the Broadway community and abroad, Mayes is a frequent music director of new works, both in production and in development. He has served as a consultant on numerous projects and is a staunch advocate for where music meets dramaturgy within new works. Holding degrees in education and a Masters’ thesis focusing on music direction as musical dramaturgy, Sean is most excited about being able serve as a mentor within NCNM to advocate for new works that will influence what Canadian musical theatre is destined to become.
Based out of New York City & Toronto, Sean Mayes enjoys a varied career internationally as a conductor, music director, orchestrator, arranger, composer, author & educator across North America and Europe, spanning the range of numerous musical styles between Broadway, theatre, opera, classical & pops. In New York, Mr Mayes serves as a conductor between two Tony Award winning Broadway productions, sharing his time as Assistant Conductor of MJ and Associate Conductor of HADESTOWN. Internationally, Mr Mayes serves as Musical Supervisor of the Finnish Premiere of COME FROM AWAY, and in Fall 2022, served as Music Director and Conductor of the new musical MANDELA, inspired by the life of Nelson Mandela & co-produced by the Mandela family for production at the Young Vic Theatre in London, UK. As Music Director for Broadway luminary André De Shields, Mr Mayes was Music Director, Orchestrator & Arranger for An Evening With André De Shields with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in 2021.
Select recent work includes serving as Composer & Musical Supervisor of the National Tour of Fall On Your Knees; Composer for the Stratford Festival’s 2023 production of King Lear; Music Supervisor of AFROPUNK @ Lincoln Center, Music Supervisor of RENT: In Concert at the Kennedy Center, and Composer & Conductor of Aportia Chryptych: A Black Opera for Portia White at the Canadian Opera Company in 2024. As an author, Mr Mayes’ writing and scholarship is dedicated towards unpacking systemic issues surrounding representation, having previously published on disproportionately represented Black music directors (Reframing the Musical, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), and the retracing of Black British musical theatre history in An Inconvenient Black History of British Musical Theatre (Bloomsbury, 2021), which was celebrated for release in concert at Wigmore Hall, London, in September 2021. @maestromayes