Hong Kong-born Briton Jonathan Lo was the Music Director of Northern Ballet, Principal Guest Conductor of the Xi’an Symphony Orchestra (China), Principal Conductor of the New Bristol Sinfonia and the Haffner Orchestra. As a member of the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House, he is on the conducting staff for The Royal Ballet. In addition, Jonathan maintains his passion for working with young musicians through his work as Music Director of the King’s College London Symphony Orchestra. He was Senior Lecturer in conducting at Leeds College of Music and continues to teach privately.
Jonathan made his Northern Ballet debut as guest Music Director for the world première of Cathy Marston’s Victoria. He made his Royal Opera House main stage debut with The Royal Ballet with Christopher Wheeldon’s Within the Golden Hour and Crystal Pite’s Flight Pattern, which was broadcast live to cinemas around the world and made for commercial DVD release. This followed his debut with the company, conducting the first Royal Ballet performance in the refurbished Linbury Theatre with the London Sinfonietta in New Work, New Music. A BBC Performing Arts Fellow in 2015 with Birmingham Royal Ballet and Rambert Dance Company, he has since been invited to guest conduct for both companies regularly, as well as Dutch National Ballet and Scottish Ballet in works ranging from Cinderella (Bintley, Hampson), Nutcracker (Wright, Eagling & Van Schayk), La fille mal gardée (Ashton), Highland Fling (Matthew Bourne) to Transfigured Night (Kim Brandstrup), Ghost Dances (Christopher Bruce) and The 3 Dancers (Didy Veldman).
Born in 1987, Jonathan read music at the University of Oxford, before going on to study conducting at Royal Northern College of Music on a major scholarship, graduating with distinction and winning the Mortimer Furber Prize in conducting contemporary music. Jonathan was appointed to his first music directorship aged 18 with the Oxford University Philharmonia after winning the University’s conducting competition. Since then, Jonathan has conducted orchestras internationally and nationally, most notably the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Royal Ballet Sinfonia, London Sinfonietta, Manchester Camerata, Northern Chamber Orchestra, Gabrieli Consort, Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, Fairey Band and Orquestra do Algarve.
As Music Director of the Manchester Chamber Choir, Jonathan has worked as chorus master for the BBC Philharmonic both at the BBC Proms and in the recording studio. In addition to the choir’s series of concerts, Jonathan also conducts them regularly for broadcasts on BBC Radio. Future highlights in the theatre include Cinderella and Geisha for Northern Ballet, Giselle and Nutcracker for BRB, Nutcracker for Dutch National Ballet and a return to the main stage at the Royal Opera House for a new Liam Scarlett ballet with the Royal Ballet.
Main photo taken by Johan Persson