Sean Mayes

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 across North America and Europe, with his work spanning numerous musical styles through some of the world’s largest theatres and concert halls, moving between Broadway, theatre, opera, classical and pops.

In New York, Mayes shares his time as conductor for two Tony Award-winning Broadway productions, the new MJ: THE MUSICAL and HADESTOWN. At home in Canada, Mayes was Music Director and Conductor of the all-Canadian premiere of THE COLOR PURPLE in 2019, for which he was awarded the Merritt Award for Outstanding Musical Direction.

Internationally, he served as Musical Supervisor of the Finnish premiere of COME FROM AWAY. In Fall 2022, Mayes served as Music Director and 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.

As an orchestrator and arranger, Mayes’ work has been performed by ensembles ranging in style from pops to classical to opera across North America and Europe. Mayes was Music Director, Orchestrator and Arranger for An Evening With André De Shields with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in 2021. He is also Music Director for André De Shields.

Outside of musical theatre, Mayes is Composer & Musical Supervisor of Fall On Your Knees, the stage adaptation of the best-selling Canadian novel, having recently toured Canada’s largest theatres through Canadian Stage (Toronto), Neptune Theatre (Halifax), National Arts Centre (Ottawa), and the Grand Theatre (London). He is also Composer for the Stratford Festival’s Mainstage production of King Lear during the 2023 season, and recently served as Music Supervisor of Black HERSTORY; an all immersive two-day joint event with AFROPUNK at Lincoln Center featuring an immense line of Black musical talent.

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 (Reframing the Musical), and on the retracing of Black practitioners through British musical theatre history in An Inconvenient Black History of British Musical Theatre, which was celebrated for release in concert at Wigmore Hall, London, in 2021. His anticipated text, Conversations in Color: Exploring North American Musical Theatre, will be published in late 2023 through Methuen Drama, Bloomsbury Publishing.

Mayes holds degrees in music, education, and music direction from McGill University and the University of Surrey.