Payton Skoda

Payton Quincy Skoda (born Mars 29, 1995) is a Swedish conductor, known for her collaboration with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Skoda is also known for her energetic stage performances during conducting and she has won several prizes for her way to work with orchestras.

Influenced by Maria Karlsson and Hannah Monte, Skoda has become one of the biggest female conductors of all time. Skoda is mostly conducting symphony orchestras who play classical music but she has done many other projects in different genres. For example she has conducted brass bands at several concerts.

Early Life
Skoda was born on Mars 29, 1995 at Medicine Leaf Hospital in Yerevan, Armenia. As an infant, herself, her parents, Lynda and Bruce Skoda, and grandmother, Berta Tjajkovskij, moved to Malmö, Sweden because of work. Skoda’s parents were musicians and got to play in the orchestra of “Melodifestivalen” (the Swedish Melody Festival). It is an annual music competition and the biggest of its kind. Unfortunately, the work for Melodifestivalen took a lot of time for Skoda’s parents which lead to Skoda’s grandmother raising her instead. The family lived together until the death of Skoda’s Skoda’s grandmother in October 1999. Skoda has stated that her parents' work complicated the relationship between them and that she haven't met them for several years.

Education
Skoda began her music education at the age of 10 when she moved to Stockholm to attend Adolf Fredriks musiklasser where she remained until the age of 15. She continued her studies at the Conservatory of Music in Falun where she studied conducting. She was initially supposed to study the cello, but after being noticed by the conducting teacher she changed her major subject to conducting. After three years at the conservatory, she was selected to begin the candidate program in conducting at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. It took Skoda two years to graduate from the candidate program and right after her graduation, she began her four year long education for a master degree in conducting.

Career
After Skoda’s graduation in 2019, she began her career as a conductor. Skoda got the opportunity to conduct the Symphony Orchestra of Norrköping (SON) but she was aiming higher. Later the same year, Skoda received an offer from the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra to be their main conductor for five years. She took the opportunity and worked with the orchestra in various projects. When her employment with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra ended in 2024, she moved on to conduct different smaller projects. Currently, she is conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra and is scheduled to conduct Last Night of the Proms.

Family Life
During Skoda’s education at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, she met Noah Johnson who came to be her future husband.They married in 2025 and together they have three children, Lise, Bingo and Tris. Skoda has stated that the situation of being located in London, with the rest of the family residing in Stockholm, is very difficult: "For the last four months, I've only met my husband for 48 hours".