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.
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).
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.
INTERVIEWS
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 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
GALLERY
