Home

The dynamic young American conductor JONATHAN PASTERNACK is becoming increasingly known for his exciting and memorable performances of the classic repertoire. He has led symphony orchestras and over two dozen opera productions in Europe and the United States, including work with the London Symphony Orchestra, Residentie Orkest of the Hague, Oregon Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Saint Petersburg Festival Orchestra, Romanian National Orchestra, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, North Czech Philharmonic, and the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, among many others. Winner of the Second Prize at the 2002 Cadaqués International Conducting Competition in Barcelona, Spain, he has also received distinctions at the Aspen Music Festival, Brevard Music Festival, and the David Oistrakh Festival in Estonia.

His conducting credits for the stage include productions of Verdi, Don Carlo; Puccini, Tosca; Puccini, La bohème; Delibes, Lakmé; Strauss, Jr., Die Fledermaus; Britten, The Turn of the Screw; Massenet, Cendrillon; Poulenc, Dialogues des Carmélites; Ravel, L’enfant et les sortilèges; Verdi, Falstaff; Humperdinck, Hänsel und Gretel; Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker; and Rossini, Il barbiere di Siviglia. He led the world premiere in Seattle of Gloria Wilson Swisher’s opera The Prestigious Music Award and the Paris premiere of Robert Clerc’s opera on Persian themes, A l'ombre du grand arbre.

The debut recording by Jonathan Pasternack with the London Symphony Orchestra was released to critical acclaim in January 2011 on the Naxos label. The Grammy-award winning production team was led by producer Michael Fine and balance engineer Wolf-Dieter Karwatky. This recording marks the first commercial release made with fully digital microphone technology created by Neumann and Sennheiser. The repertoire includes Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 and the suite from The Miraculous Mandarin by Béla Bartók.

Born and raised in New York City, Jonathan Pasternack received his early training in piano, trombone, percussion, violin and violoncello. At age sixteen, he entered the Manhattan School of Music on scholarship and later transferred to MIT to study astronomy and political science. He holds graduate degrees in music from the University of Washington where he studied orchestral and opera conducting with Peter Erös. His other teachers have included Neeme Järvi, David Zinman, Murry Sidlin, and Jorma Panula.

Jonathan Pasternack is currently Music Director of the University of Washington Symphony, Opera and Contemporary Group. Since 2009, he has also served as Music Director of Bellevue Opera. Previous positions have included Assistant Conductor of the Oregon Symphony, Music Director of the Icicle Creek Music Center Youth Symphony and Festival Orchestra, Conductor of the Seattle Junior Youth Symphony, Music Director of the MIT Chamber Orchestra, and Visiting Director of Orchestral Activities at Pacific Lutheran University.

January 2012