ABOUT

George Jackson is quickly making a name for the breadth and commitment of his work, whether in opera, symphonic repertoire or contemporary scores, building strong relationships with the orchestras he conducts. Jackson is Music Director of the Amarillo Symphony, and leads them in their centenary season in 2024.

Jackson’s skill in preparing complex scores has led to an ongoing relationship with Ensemble Intercontemporain. Together they released the world premiere recording of Steve Reich’s Reich/Richter on Nonesuch Records, following successful performances of the work in Rome, Paris and Luxembourg. Last season he conducted the group at Festival Présences and Tokyo Easter Festival, in programmes featuring Reich, Werner, Boulez, Varèse and Webern. With Collegium Novum Zürich, Jackson conducted Isabel Mundry’s new work Noli me tangere, and with Brussels Philharmonic he led the world premiere of Claire-Mélanie Sinnhuber’s Chahut. This season with Amarillo Symphony he conducts the world premieres of works by Michael Daugherty, Matthew Kanerand Angela Elizabeth Slater.

George Jackson is quickly making a name for the breadth and commitment of his work, whether in
opera, symphonic repertoire or contemporary scores, building strong relationships with the
orchestras he conducts. Jackson is Music Director of the Amarillo Symphony, and leads them in their
centenary season in 2024.

Jackson’s skill in preparing complex scores has led to an ongoing relationship with Ensemble
Intercontemporain. Together they released the world premiere recording of Steve Reich’s
Reich/Richter on Nonesuch Records, following successful performances of the work in Rome, Paris
and Luxembourg. Last season he conducted the group at Festival Présences and Tokyo Easter
Festival, in programmes featuring Reich, Werner, Boulez, Varèse and Webern. With Collegium
Novum Zürich, Jackson conducted Isabel Mundry’s new work Noli me tangere, and with Brussels
Philharmonic he led the world premiere of Claire-Mélanie Sinnhuber’s Chahut. This season with
Amarillo Symphony he conducts the world premieres of works by Michael Daugherty, Matthew Kanerand Angela Elizabeth Slater.

Jackson is increasingly sought-after as a guest with European orchestras, who appreciate his
fearless conducting and thorough rehearsal technique. Recent engagements include Orchestre de Paris, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Israel Contemporary Players and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León. Future plans include performances with Brussels Philharmonic, Opéra Orchestre National de Montpellier and BBC Concert Orchestra. Praised for his natural affinity for opera, he has received acclaim for his work in productions of Hänsel und Gretel and The Excursions of Mr Brouček (Grange Park Opera), La bohème and Le nozze di Figaro (Opera Holland Park), and Il barbiere di Siviglia (Theater an der Wien).
The son of actor parents, Jackson began inventing theatrical entertainments with his sister at an early age, as well as learning the violin, and later served as a drummer and guitarist in post-punk, rock and Irish folk bands, developing broad musical tastes that he retains to this day. Jackson’s formative experiences include his participation at Lucerne Festival Academy and at Aspen Music
Festival, where he was awarded the Aspen Conducting Prize in 2015. He is passionate and informed about the art and traditions of conducting, and regularly passes on his enthusiasm through podcasts on the subject.
Jackson is increasingly sought-after as a guest with European orchestras, who appreciate his
fearless conducting and thorough rehearsal technique. Recent engagements include Orchestre de Paris, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Israel Contemporary Players and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León. Future plans include performances with Brussels Philharmonic, Opéra Orchestre National de Montpellier and BBC Concert Orchestra. Praised for his natural affinity for opera, he has received acclaim for his work in productions of Hänsel und Gretel and The Excursions of Mr Brouček (Grange Park Opera), La bohème and Le nozze di Figaro (Opera Holland Park), and Il barbiere di Siviglia (Theater an der Wien).
The son of actor parents, Jackson began inventing theatrical entertainments with his sister at an early age, as well as learning the violin, and later served as a drummer and guitarist in post-punk, rock and Irish folk bands, developing broad musical tastes that he retains to this day. Jackson’s formative experiences include his participation at Lucerne Festival Academy and at Aspen Music Festival, where he was awarded the Aspen Conducting Prize in 2015. He is passionate and informed about the art and traditions of conducting, and regularly passes on his enthusiasm through podcasts on the subject.

The Times - Richard Morrison

Most of the musical interest lies in the deft instrumental writing, effectively realised by the Gascoigne Orchestra under George Jackson’s meticulous direction.

Anthony Bolton, Island of Dreams (world premiere)
Grange Park Opera

The Guardian - Tim Ashley

“The City of London Sinfonia, meanwhile, play superbly for Jackson, an excellent conductor, wonderfully alert to the sadness as well as the humour that permeates the score.”

Mozart, The Marriage of Figaro
Opera Holland Park

Evening Standard - Barry Millington

“Not only did he pace the action unfailingly to contrast the moments of private anguish with the frenetic public activity going on around it, but he also drew out the beauty and wrung out the maximum pathos from a score that drips with it.”

Puccini, La Bohème
Opera Holland Park / City of London Sinfonia

The Telegraph - Rupert Christiansen

“George Jackson conducted the full ENO orchestra in a magnificent account of the score, sparkling with playful humour in the dialogues and exultantly romantic in the interludes.”  

Humperdinck, Hänsel und Gretel
Grange Park Opera / Orchestra of English National Opera

Classykeo - Soline Heurtebise

“L’album MOONDOG 1969 a été sublimé par l’interprétation magistrale de l’Orchestre philharmonique de Bruxelles, sous la direction éclairée de George Jackson.”

Moondog, 1969
Brussels Philharmonic

BBC Music Magazine - Claire Jackson

“George Jackson expertly pushes Pierre Boulez’s former ensemble through the pixelating patterns. Some audience snuffling and shuffling is audible in this otherwise mesmeric performance.”

Steve Reich, ‘Reich/Richter’
Ensemble Intercontemporain

British Theatre - Tim Hochstrasser

“The musical side of the evening operates at a very high level. The City of London Sinfonia, under George Jackson’s baton, relishes the tasty orchestral textures, bringing out the many layers of instrumental flavour that Puccini conjures up in the service of the dramatic moment. There is nothing routine in this performance and because Jackson risked creating genuine pianissimos under the cavernous Holland Park tent we got to hear inner parts of the orchestra not usually discernible within the overall wash of sound.”

Puccini, La Bohème
Opera Holland Park / City of London Sinfonia

The Arts Desk - Jessica Duchen

“The award-winning young conductor George Jackson exerts formidable control over the shape and pace of the action, no easy ask in such a bizarre creation”. 

Janáček, ‘The Excursions of Mr Brouček
Grange Park Opera / BBC Concert Orchestra

CALENDAR

17th & 18th January 2025

Amarillo Symphony

Globe News Centre
Amarillo, TX

Johann Strauss: Blue Danube

Matthew Kaner: Violin Concerto (Co-Commission with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra)

Antonín Dvorak: Symphony No. 8

 Ben Baker violin

7th/8th February 2024

Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier

Opéra Comédie, Montpellier
France

Exils

Igor Stravinsky (1882 – 1971)
Symphonies d’instruments à vent

Kurt Weill (1900 – 1950)
Das Berliner Requiem

Valentin Silvestrov (né en 1937)
Ode à un rossignol

Sofia Goubaïdoulina (née en 1931)
Rubayat

Arnold Schoenberg (1874 – 1951)
Friede auf Erden opus 13

 

February 28th & March 1st 2025

Amarillo Symphony

Globe News Centre
Amarillo, TX

Errollyn Wallen: Mighty River

Angela Elizabeth Slater: Mountains Become Oceans (World Premiere)

Sibelius: Swan of Tuonela

Debussy: La Mer

Hannah Weaver percussion

Rosanna Moore harp

March 21st & 22nd 2025

Amarillo Symphony

Globe News Centre
Amarillo, TX

George Antheil: Over The Plains

Samuel Jones: Trombone Concerto

Charles Ives: Symphony No. 1

John Shanks trombone

April 3rd 2025

BBC Concert Orchestra

Alexandra Palace, London

Bizet: Carmen Suite No. 1

Rodrigo: Fantasía para un gentilhombre

Arbós: Pequena Suite espanola

Craig Ogden guitar

April 25th & 26th 2025

Amarillo Symphony

Globe News Centre
Amarillo, TX

L.V. Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4

Grace-Evangeline Mason: The Imagined Forest

Stravinsky: The Firebird

Marc-André Hamelin piano

July 10 + 12 2025

Grange Park Opera

Surrey, United Kingdom

Nishat Kahn: Taj Mahal

World Premiere

Shah Jahan Caspar Singh
Mumtaz Mahal Julia Sitkovetsky
Jahanara Elizabeth Karani
Aurangzeb / Jahingir Ross Ramgobin

Nur Jahan Victoria Simmonds

Conductor George Jackson

Director Stephen Medcalf

September 19 + 20 2025

Amarillo Symphony

Globe News Centre
Amarillo, TX

Peter Maxwell Davies – An Orkney Wedding
Tchaikovsky – Piano Concerto No. 1
Mendelssohn – Scottish Symphony

Martin James-Bartlett piano

October 24 + 25 2025

Amarillo Symphony

Globe News Centre
Amarillo, TX

Chris Lowry – Fever Dreams (World-Premiere)
Camille Saint-Saens – Violin Concerto No. 3 
Hector Berlioz – Symphonie Fantastique

Aleksey Semenko violin

November 21 + 22 2025

Amarillo Symphony

Globe News Centre
Amarillo, TX

Dani Howard – The Butterfly Effect (US-Premiere)
Claude Debussy – Deux Nocturnes
Gustav Holst – The Planets

January 16 + 17 2026

Amarillo Symphony

Globe News Centre
Amarillo, TX

Gavin Higgins – Fanfare (World-Premiere)
Rodrigo – Concierto de Aranjuez
Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 

JiJi guitar

February 27 + 28 2026

Amarillo Symphony

Globe News Centre
Amarillo, TX

Bernstein – Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
John Williams – Cello Concerto
Max Steiner – Gone with the Wind
Aria selections with Sarah Beckham-Turner
Tchaikovsky – Romeo and Juliet

Oliver Herbert cello

April 24 + 25 2026

Amarillo Symphony

Globe News Centre
Amarillo, TX

Arvo Pärt – Da Pacem Domine
Brahms – Requiem

Sydney Mancasola Soprano

Daniel Okulitch baritone

April 29 2026

Liverpool Philharmonic

The Tung Auditorium
Liverpool, UK

Josephine Stephenson – In Time Like Air (UK premiere)
John Adams – Gnarly Buttons
Steve Reich – Reich/Richter

Mark Simpson clarinet

June 20 2026

Israel Contemporary Players

Zucker Hall
Tel Aviv

Yinam Leef – New Work (world premiere)
Sven Ingo-Koch – To Speak Of
Yann Robin – Übergang II