Jonathon Heyward

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  • Conductor

About Jonathon

Music Director: Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Artistic Director & Music Director: Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center

Jonathon Heyward took up the Music Director position of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in 23/24; an extension of his contract was recently announced until 2030/31. He also holds the Artistic and Music Director positions with the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center.

This season, he returns to the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Danish National Symphony and Detroit Symphony Orchestras, and makes his debut with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

Recent highlights include concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Castilla y León Symphony, Galicia Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine and at the BBC Proms with Chineke! In the US, he has appeared with the Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony Orchestra, among others.

He made his Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, debut conducting Hannah Kendall’s Knife of Down, and led the world premiere of Giorgio Battistelli’s Wake, in a production by Graham Vick for the Birmingham Opera Company. He also conducted Weill’s Lost in the Stars with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and, last season, launched a four-year ‘Verdi Opera Initiative’ with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, commencing with performances of Aida, he returns next summer to lead Rigoletto.

Jonathon is a passionate advocate for music education and community outreach. He has been recognised among TIME magazine’s ‘Next Generation Leaders’ and Bloomberg’s ‘Ones to Watch’.

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Contact

Henry Lindsay

Henry Lindsay

Associate Director

For contracts, logistics and press:

Anna Sutton

Anna Sutton

Assistant Artist Manager

Representation

Worldwide general management

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Season Highlights

Aug 2026
Royal Albert Hall, London
E.T. Jenkins (arr. Zimbabwe): Ballet Suite Samuel Barber: Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Op.24 Bonds (arr. Parnther): Even in the Moment Gershwin (arr. Parnther): Our Love is Here To Stay Rodgers (arr. Parnther): My Funny Valentine Berlin (arr. Parnther): Puttin' on the Ritz Arlen (arr. Parnther): That Old Black Magic - Dvořák: Symphony No.8 in G major, Op.88 Chineke! Orchestra Angel Blue (soprano)
Oct 2026
Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, Baltimore
Glinka: Ruslan & Ludmilla 'Overture' Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.3 in C, Op. 26 - Leshnoff: Rush Stravinsky: The Firebird Suite (1919 version) Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Bruce Liu (piano)
Oct 2026
Hamer Hall, Melbourne
Tomasi: Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra - Shostakovich: Symphony No.7, 'Leningrad' Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Steven Banks (saxophone)
Jan 2027
Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, Baltimore
Andrea Tarrodi: Solus Leshnoff: Violin Concerto - Mahler: Symphony No.1 in D Major, 'Titan' Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Gil Shaham (violin)
Feb 2027
Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, Baltimore
Programme 1: Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.3 in C minor, Op. 37 - Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, 'Emperor' Programme 2: Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.1 in C major, Op. 15 Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.2 in B-flat major, Op. 19 - Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.4 in G major, Op.58 Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Yeol Eum Son (piano)
Mar 2027
Gothenburg Konserthus, Gothenburg
Zimmermann: Nobody knows the trouble I see for trumpet and orchestra - Shostakovich: Symphony No.7, 'Leningrad' Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra Håkan Hardenberger (trumpet)
Apr 2027
Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, Baltimore
R. Schumann: Violin Concerto in D minor Still: Mother and Child - Brahms: Symphony No.2 in D major, Op.73 Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Isabelle Faust (violin)
Jun 2027
Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, Baltimore
Verdi: Requiem Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Tamara Wilson (soprano) Sasha Cooke (mezzo) Matthew Polenzani (tenor) Alfred Walker (bass baritone)

Video

Photos

News

Press

  • BBC Proms (Chineke! Orchestra)

    Royal Albert Hall
    Aug 2026

    • Heyward shaped a performance full of momentum, setting electric tempos and driving the finale to its close with breathless excitement.

    • Conductor and Chineke! Interim Artistic Director Jonathon Heyward presided with style and élan over the entire evening. Each beat of the music seemed to pulse through his body as he shifted between gravity-defying euphoria and fast-paced panache.

  • Lincoln Center Summer Orchestra

    Lincoln Center
    Aug 2026

    • Heyward brought such sensitivity and precision that you could almost hear a catch in the breath between the tune’s phrases... [Heyward] conducted with shrewd musical and dramatic instinct, inspiring an orchestral sound that was confident and nuanced, while also relaxed

  • Coleridge-Taylor, Shostakovich & Coleman

    Chineke! Orchestra
    Sep 2025

    • **** ...Jonathon Heyward put his own indelible stamp on a varied yet satisfying program... They performed it with vigour and spirit, while Heyward kept its likable blend of late-Victorian tunefulness and proto-Hollywood glitz gossamer-light... Heyward’s adroit reading was full of subtle shadow...

  • Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

    Aug 2023

    • If you could build the perfect Baltimore Symphony Orchestra maestro in a lab, they might look a lot like Jonathon Heyward... a wonderful conductor... developing an instant simpatico with the orchestra and earning praise from The Washington Post for, among other things, “coaxing wonderfully responsive playing from across the strings.” The world is taking notice...

  • Beethoven & Shostakovich

    Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
    Mar 2022

    • ...conductor Heyward is fascinating to watch. Without a baton, he sometimes signaled the orchestra in balletic gestures, sweeping his hands across long arcs or shaping phrases in circular motions, like a potter at the wheel. Elsewhere it looked as if he were holding invisible teacups in each hand, swinging them to keep the beat. It all worked... Heyward proved himself a sophisticated interpreter... He kept every detail in place, manicured and neatly articulated, and the balances between sections of the orchestra was superb... Musically polished and compelling...

  • Ravel & Mahler

    Scottish Chamber Orchestra
    Dec 2021

    • ***** ...young US conductor Jonathan Heyward stepped in at short notice and did a marvellously incisive job, all clipped rhythms and bristling precision, drawing vivid playing from the SCO musicians.