Biography

British conductor Jonathan Bloxham takes up his post as Music Director of the Luzerner Theater from 23/24 season, when he will conduct their new productions of La Bohème, I Capuleti and I Montecchi, and Dido and Aeneas.  He continues as Conductor in Residence and Artistic Advisor of the London Mozart Players (since October 2022), launching Croydon’s year as Borough of Culture with a community project involving hundreds of local amateur musicians at the LMP’s home at Fairfield Halls.

“clearly a natural conducting talent, seemingly born with an astonishing technique…incredibly flexible yet clear-sighted phrasing. Convincingly organic in his approach…small details are relished and then elegantly absorbed into the whole…bold and yet always professional”
— Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, May 2021

Jonathan made his Glyndebourne Festival debut in 2021, conducting 4 sold-out performances of Luisa Miller with the London Philharmonic. In Autumn 2021 he conducted Glyndebourne Touring Opera’s production of Don Pasquale, receiving 5 star reviews, having conducted two performances of Rigoletto for GTO in 2019. In September 2022, he joined the Luzern Symphony to conduct a production of Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle at the Luzerner Theater at the Luzern Festival.

Last season saw a string of debuts for Jonathan, including London Philharmonic, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra, Bonn Beethoven Orchester, Munich Symphony, Luzern Symphony and Aalborg Symphony. Along the way he established new relationships with leading soloists such as Steven Isserlis, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Daniel Mueller-Schott and Abel Selaocoe. He joined the Britten Sinfonia for the Barbican’s 40th birthday festivities, conducted the Salzburg Mozarteumorchester on multiple occasions, and returned to the Hallé Orchestra.  Alongside many reinvitations this current season 22/23 sees debuts with the Tokyo Symphony, Trondheim Symphony and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and at the Wiener Musikverein with musicians from the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic orchestras

He has recorded CDs with the London Symphony Orchestra (2022) and Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie (2021, Strauss and Cesar Franck): “irresistible” Musicweb International.

‘This was something very special. His sense of rhythmic life is allied to an eye for detail, combined with a way of making Mahler’s detailed prescriptions of speed, articulation and little pauses all cohere into flowing paragraphs: it’s an exceptional gift that he can control a performance so eloquently and also, it seems, share some fun in the making of it.’
— The Arts Desk (on conducting The Hallé in May 2023)

In 2009 Jonathan founded the Northern Chords Festival, which takes place every year in the region he grew up in, the North East of England. The festival has become known for unearthing little-known composers and innovative community projects, and through it Jonathan has commissioned several premieres by young composers such as Vlad Maistorovici, Jack Sheen and Freya Waley Cohen. Jonathan’s conducting career was launched when he took up the Assistant Conductor position at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 2016-2018 under Mirga Grazynte-Tyla. He was then invited by Paavo Järvi to conduct the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, since when he has become a regular guest, going on to conduct across Europe with orchestras such as the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta and Basque National. Nearer to home he has returned to the CBSO, conducted the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and National Symphony RTE.

Before taking up conducting he was a founder member and the cellist of the Busch Trio, performing regularly at the Wigmore Hall, across Europe and on BBC Radio 3, and still plays chamber music on occasion. Whilst studying at the Royal College of Music he won several prestigious awards including the Suggia Gift and the RCM Cello Prize; he made his concerto debut at the Berlin Philharmonie in 2012.  He began his musical training at the age of 8 with a local cello teacher from the Gateshead Schools Music Service. He then studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School & Royal College of Music with Thomas Carroll before completing a Master’s degree at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Louise Hopkins, taking further conducting studies with Sian Edwards, Michael Seal, Nicolas Pasquet and Paavo Järvi.

“ Wonderfully alert to every shift in colour and mood, and immaculately sustaining the magic atmosphere”
— The Guardian, January 2021