BIOGRAPHY
Music Director Luzerner Theater | Chief Conductor Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie | Principal Conductor & Artistic Advisor London Mozart Players
British conductor Jonathan Bloxham was appointed Music Director of the Luzerner Theater in 2023, having debuted there in 2022 with Bluebeard’s Castle. After achieving great success in the last seasons with acclaimed new productions of La Bohème (“the opera highlight of the season”, Luzerner Zeitung), I Capuleti e I Montecchi, Idomeneo, Die Fledermaus, Luisa Miller and Hansel and Gretel, in 25/26 Bloxham conducts Peter Grimes, The Magic Flute, and L’elisir d’amore. Bloxham made his Glyndebourne Festival debut in 2021, conducting Luisa Miller with the London Philharmonic. In the same year he conducted Glyndebourne Touring Opera’s production of Don Pasquale, having performed Rigoletto with the orchestra in 2019.
This season will be Bloxham’s second year as Chief Conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie following in the footsteps of Andris Nelsons and Jonothan Heyward. Last season he led them on two national tours and in their subscription series in Herford, with two further tours planned for this season. In 2021 he recorded a CD of Strauss and Franck with the orchestra, described as "irresistible" by Musicweb International.
The 2025/26 season will also mark Bloxham’s first as Principal Conductor of the London Mozart Players, building on his long-standing relationship with the ensemble, which he has served as Resident Conductor and Artistic Advisor since 2022. Season highlights include Mozart, Master of Drama, the opening concert at St Martin-in-the-Fields with Danielle De Niese, and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a celebratory performance at Fairfield Halls marking the 150th anniversary of the Croydon-born composer. Bloxham also leads the orchestra in the world premieres of works by Anna Clyne and Stephen McNeff.
“A musical miracle... energetic, beautiful, clear and, when necessary, explosive…increasingly full-bodied and expansive, yet always precisely crafted – Bloxham has achieved a masterpiece!”
Guest highlights of the past couple of seasons have included London Philharmonic, NDR Elbphilharmonie, Tokyo Symphony, Salzburg Mozarteumorchester, Halle Orchestra, BBC Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, Belgian National, Residentie Orkest, Tonkuenstlerorchester Wien at the Grafenegg Festival, Bonn Beethovenorchester, Trondheim Symphony and Philharmonic Brass (musicians from Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic orchestras) – many of these on multiple occasions. This season he conducts the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Bremer Philharmoniker, and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic with two programmes.
In 2024 Bloxham released a recording of Bach’s Keyboard Concertos with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Tianqi Du, which reached number one on the Apple Classical Top 100 global chart. He has also recorded works by Bruce Broughton with the London Symphony Orchestra (2024), as well as discs for future release with the BBC Scottish Symphony (2022) and London Mozart Players (2023).
“The Lucerne Symphony Orchestra under Jonathan Bloxham plays a lively, crisp-fresh Mozart...And with all this splendor and Bloxham’s ideally balanced tempos, the individual registers always remain clearly audible. Mozart’s score is implemented exemplary in every detail. You couldn’t play Mozart’s opera more thrillingly or with more virtuosity.”
Bloxham’s conducting career began in 2016 when he became Assistant Conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla. Prior to conducting, he enjoyed a successful career as a cellist, performing across Europe and making his concerto debut at the Berlin Philharmonie in 2012. He studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School, the Royal College of Music, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and later trained in conducting with Sian Edwards, Michael Seal, Nicolas Pasquet, and Paavo Järvi. For the past 17 years Bloxham has been Artistic Director of the annual Northern Chords Festival in Newcastle-upon-Tyne which he founded at the age of 20.
“Bloxham guides it flexibly, making the small changes that give the music a face. Even the slightest changes in tone shine and emerge vividly…exciting and personal…what a refreshing evening”
