Photography by Rebel Howl Studios
Born in Toronto and based out of New York City, Sean Mayes enjoys an active and varied career internationally as a conductor, music director, orchestrator, arranger, composer, author, and educator,
with his work spanning numerous musical styles through the world’s largest theatres and concert halls, between Broadway, theatre, opera, classical and orchestral Pops.
In the Broadway community, Mr Mayes is the incoming Worldwide Music Supervisor
for Disney’s THE LION KING, and Music Supervisor & Co-Orchestrator for the Broadway bound
ALI: The Musical; composed by conductor Teddy Abrams & rap legend Q-Tip.
Mr Mayes is also Music Director for Broadway luminary André De Shields.
Previous Broadway credits include time as a Conductor for two Tony Award®-winning productions,
the new MJ: The Musical and HADESTOWN. Mr Mayes is a frequent music director & orchestrator
of numerous engagements within the Broadway community.
As a guest conductor, recent symphonic conducting engagements include conducting
the American Pops Orchestra in Black Broadway: A Proud History, a Limitless Future
for National Television on PBS, featuring a select star line up of Broadway’s most established
Black performers. Mr Mayes is also Conductor & Co-Orchestrator for the World Premiere of
The Voice of Whitney: A Symphonic Celebration at the Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Philharmonic,
a brand new concert tribute featuring the original master recordings of Whitney Houston’s vocals
set to new orchestrations, produced in collaboration with the Estate of Whitney Houston,
Park Avenue Artists, and Primary Wave Music.
Internationally, Mayes serves as a Conductor and Music Supervisor of productions across the globe.
In Fall 2022, Mr Mayes served as Music Director & Conductor of the new musical MANDELA,
inspired by the life of Nelson Mandela and co-produced by the Mandela family for production
at the Young Vic Theatre in London, UK. Additional recent credits include serving as
Music Supervisor for the International Finnish Premiere of the musical COME FROM AWAY.
At home in Canada, Mayes was Music Director & Conductor of the all-Canadian premiere of
THE COLOR PURPLE in 2019, for which he was awarded the 2020 Merritt Award
for Outstanding Musical Direction.
As Music Supervisor, recent additional work includes supervision of BLACK HERSTORY x AFROPUNK
at Lincoln Center, an all immersive two-day joint event featuring an all-star lineup of Black musical talent; and as Music Supervisor of the premiere of RENT: In Concert at the Kennedy Center;
a new orchestral concert production of the hit musical, performed with permission
from the Jonathan Larson Estate.
As a composer, orchestrator, and arranger, Mayes’ work is frequently performed in venues
across North America & Europe. 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. This past season, Mayes’ Merritt Award winning compositions were featured in the Canadian national tour of FALL ON YOUR KNEES,
the anticipated stage adaptation of the ground-breaking Canadian novel by author
Ann-Marie MacDonald, for which Mayes also served as Music Supervisor, having toured at
Canadian Stage (Toronto), Neptune Theatre (Halifax), the National Arts Centre (Ottawa),
and the Grand Theatre (London). Mr Mayes’ compositions were also recently heard in
the Mainstage production of KING LEAR in the 2023 Season of the Stratford Festival.
Equally at ease in the classical world, a new opera, Aportia Chryptych: A Black Opera for Portia White, composed and orchestrated by Mr Mayes alongside Canadian multidisciplinary artist HAUI,
made its World Premiere at the Canadian Opera Company in the COC’s 2023/2024 season,
for which Mr Mayes also served as Conductor.
As an author, Mayes’ leading writing and scholarship is uniquely attuned to the ongoing conversation
of unpacking systemic issues surrounding representation in theatre and arts.
He is a published author on the role of Black music directors and disproportionately represented
artists on Broadway in Reframing the Musical, published by Palgrave Macmillan, and on
the retracing of Black practitioners through British musical theatre history in
An Inconvenient Black History of British Musical Theatre also by Bloomsbury Publishing,
which was celebrated for release in concert at Wigmore Hall in London in 2021.
His third anticipated text via Bloomsbury featuring interviews with theatre industry
leaders of color, Conversations in Color: Exploring North American Musical Theatre,
was published in November 2023.
Mr Mayes is a member of the Recording Academy, and holds degrees in music, education, and music direction from McGill University and the University of Surrey, UK.