ABOUT JONATHAN

Jonathan Palmer Lakeland is a British-American conductor, pianist, and vocal coach whose work spans opera, recital, and recording, with collaborations with many of the world’s leading classical music institutions and artists.

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Recently, Jonathan has been heard at Carnegie Hall in a gala performance with mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina, with whom he regularly collaborates. He also recently co-created Rebellious Birds V, a devised, semi-improvised performance art piece for the Tate Modern based on themes from Bizet’s Carmen. The piece was created with Wu Tsang, Moved by the Motion, saxophonist Tapiwa Svosve, and soprano Julieth Lozano Rolong. This was performed in the Tanks at the Tate Modern as a part of its Theatre Picasso exhibit.

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As a conductor, Jonathan has led productions with major opera companies across Europe and North America. In May 2024, he conducted a new adaptation of Carmen at the Schauspielhaus Zürich, featuring additional music by GRAMMY Award-winning composer Andrew Yee. About the performance the Tages-Anzeicher Zurich wrote, “The singing, the orchestra under the direction of Jonathan Palmer Lakeland, and composition by Andrew Yee based on the Bizet opera were truly reason enough for the loud premiere cheers and the standing ovations.”

In 2022, he made his Vienna conducting debut with the Austrian premiere of Tobias Picker’s Thérèse Raquin at Theater an der Wien, where he previously served as a Studienleiter and répétiteur. The Wiener Zeitung wrote, “Jonathan Palmer Lakeland, conducting the Wiener Kammerorchester, lets the sounds of pain roar."

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As a vocal coach, Jonathan has prepared singers for performances, broadcasts, and recordings with the Royal Opera House, Metropolitan Opera, Wiener Staatsoper, Dutch National Opera, Glyndebourne, Opéra National de Paris, and Bayerische Staatsoper. 

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An accomplished pianist, he has appeared in recital with a range of singers at venues including Wigmore Hall, Salle Cortot (Paris), Alice Tully Hall (Lincoln Center), the Oxford Lieder Festival, and the Leeds Lieder Festival. He has been featured on broadcasts on BBC Radio 4, PBS, and NPR/WWFM.

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Jonathan is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, Westminster Choir College, and has also trained at the Georg Solti Accademia, and the Tanglewood Music Center where he was the 2018 Billy Joel Keyboard Fellow.