Appointment of Jonathan Grieves-Smith as new Director of Music
Announcement posted by Trinity College, the University of Melbourne 23 May 2014
Jonathan brings to his role at Trinity a vast wealth of music experience on the world stage.
He has trained choirs for many outstanding musicians including Sir Simon Rattle, Vernon Handley, Massimo Freccia, Seiji Ozawa, Valery Gergiev, Stephen Layton, Mark Wigglesworth, Klaus Tennstedt, Pierre Boulez, James Levine, Lorin Maazel and Sir Roger Norrington, for concerts in London, Rio de Janeiro, Granada, Brussels, Nairobi, and Melbourne and many other cities besides, and for recordings for Chandos, Decca, Phillips, ABC Classics and MSO Live.
Jonathan was Assistant Music Director to Laszlo Heltay at the Brighton Festival Chorus and was appointed Music Director following Laszlo’s retirement. He was Chorus Master to the Reading Festival Chorus, Huddersfield Choral Society and Hallé Choir, and has conducted the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields Choir, Sydney Chamber Choir, BBC Singers, and many others.
He has conducted the Orchestra National de Lille, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Bochum Symphony Orchestra, London Mozart Players, and numerous others, with soloists including Nelson Freire, Bryn Terfel and Tasmin Little.
The appointment of Jonathan comes soon after the retirement of Michael Leighton Jones, who leaves this year after 17 years as Director of Music at Trinity, during which time the Choir has grown in national and international esteem. In April Michael and Jonathan collaborated as soloist and conductor when the Choir of Trinity College performed the J. S. Bach ‘St John Passion’ at St Paul’s Cathedral, a performance recorded by the ABC and broadcast on ABC Classic FM.
Jonathan will remain Chorus Master of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus, and Artistic Director of Hallelujah Junction, Australia’s professional choir.
Of his new position, Mr Grieves-Smith says, “I am absolutely delighted to take on the role of Director of Music at Trinity College. In the short time I have been working with the Trinity College Choir, I have been most impressed with the excellence, vitality and intensity of the music-making we have shared. It is something that augurs extremely well for our work in the Chapel and for concert-giving at home and abroad. It is clearly time to dream big.”
“I am deeply aware of the debt I owe to my predecessor Michael Leighton Jones, whose outstanding tenure benefited so many so richly. This is a College full of diverse and delicious musical activity, and I look forward to my role as mentor and guide, and to the many inspiring hours of music, laughter and discussion with such wonderful students.”
The Warden of Trinity College, Professor Andrew McGowan, said “We are delighted to have someone of Jonathan Grieves-Smith’s talent and experience to continue the great tradition of choral music at the College, and to link us even more actively with the wider Melbourne music community. He will be a worthy inheritor and continuer of the work that audiences and congregations have enjoyed so much during Michael Leighton Jones’ tenure.”
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For further media enquiries and interviews, please contact:
Ben Zipper, Communications Manager at Trinity College on + 61 3 9348 7528 or bzipper@trinity.unimelb.edu.au.
Jonathan Grieves-Smith, Director of Music at Trinity College on 0439 343 268 or jgrieves@trinity.unimelb.edu.au.