Marcelo Lehninger most recently appeared as guest conductor with the North Carolina Symphony in 2021, leading Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, Brahms’ Symphony No. 1, and Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No.9.

Brazilian-born Marcelo Lehninger has been Music Director of the Grand Rapids Symphony since 2016 and was appointed Artistic Director of the Bellingham Festival of Music in 2023. Previously, he served as Music Director of the New West Symphony in Los Angeles, for which the League of American Orchestras awarded him the Helen H. Thompson Award for Emerging Music Directors. For five years, he was Assistant and then Associate Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a tenure that included a debut at Carnegie Hall in 2011.

During the 2025/26 season, Lehninger has returned to the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, made his debut with the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, and led multiple engagements with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra in Rio de Janeiro. Last year, he visited South Africa for the first time, conducting concerts with the philharmonic orchestras of Johannesburg and KwaZulu Natal.

Lehninger has appeared as guest conductor with the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Detroit, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Toronto, and Winnipeg, among many others. European highlights include engagements with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestre national de France, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, and Prague Philharmonia, as well as regular visits to the Slovenian Philharmonic and a tour with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

Lehninger was Music Advisor of the Orchestra of the Americas for the 2007/08 season and conducted concerts on tour in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. He has served as Associate Conductor of the Minas Gerais Philharmonic Orchestra, where he returns frequently as guest conductor. He also appears regularly at the Campos do Jordão Winter Festival in Brazil.

Before dedicating his career to conducting, Lehninger studied violin and piano. He holds a master’s degree from the Conductors Institute at Bard College. A dual citizen of Brazil and Germany, he is the son of Brazilian pianist Sônia Goulart and German violinist Erich Lehninger.