Conductor and pianist Jonathon Swinard is the Artistic Director of the Scottish Opera Young Company, the Head of Music at Garsington Opera, and the new Chorus Master at Scottish Opera.
He studied at Oxford University and the Guildhall School and began his career at Scottish Opera as the company’s first Emerging Artist Répétiteur. From 2013 to 2014 he held the Alexander Gibson Choral Conducting Fellowship with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Chorus. From 2014 to 2016 he was Solorepetitor and Kapellmeister at the Staatstheater in Nuremberg where he conducted opera, ballet, and musical theatre. In 2016 he returned to Scottish Opera as Chorus Master and Répétiteur. He studied conducting with Sian Edwards at Dartington and is the Musical Director of the Helensburgh Oratorio Choir.
Jonathon is a long-standing member of Faculty for both the Georg Solti Accademia di Bel Canto and Lyric Opera Studio Weimar, and is a visiting vocal coach at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He is passionate about the training of young voices and is the Artistic Director of the Alvarez Young Artists Programme at Garsington Opera.