Jonathan McPhee, Music Director
Photo by Rosalie O'Connor
Jonathan McPhee is equally at home as a conductor for the symphony, ballet, and opera. He is Conductor Emeritus of Boston Ballet having served as Music Director for the Boston Ballet Orchestra for 28 years. Mr. McPhee maintains an active guest conducting schedule in addition to his position as Music Director for Lexington Symphony.
In recent seasons Mr. McPhee has conducted many orchestras at home and abroad including the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra (SA), London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sarasota Symphony (FL), Germany’s Hamburg Philharmonic, the Ukraine National Opera Orchestra, Houston Ballet Orchestra, and conducted performances at the Dubai Opera House and Tokyo’s Bunka Kaikan.
Some of the world's most distinguished dance companies for which Mr. McPhee has served as conductor include The Royal Ballet (England), Martha Graham Dance Company, National Ballet of Canada, The Australian Ballet, the New York City Ballet, Den Norske Ballett in Norway, and The Royal Danish Ballet in Denmark. In addition to a broad repertoire in the field of dance, Mr. McPhee has conducted grand opera, pops concerts, musical theatre and operetta.
“As Music Director for Lexington Symphony, nothing gives me greater pleasure than to see so many young people and families at our concerts. The audience has doubled in just a couple of years—an unparalleled phenomenon. The hundreds of third graders who attended our Orchestrating Kids Through Classics™ program in January cheered at the end like they were at a rock concert. The orchestra loves playing for audiences from the Greater Boston area who have embraced the musicians and our programming. What a joy to stand at the intersection between orchestra and audience.”
McPhee preparing for a Lexington Symphony performance at Cary Hall.
Mr. McPhee's works as an arranger and composer are in the repertoires of orchestras and ballet companies around the world. His edition of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and the complete Firebird ballet are the only reduced orchestrations of these works authorized by the Stravinsky Trust. Mr. McPhee’s compositions and arrangements are published by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. & Schott Music Publishers in Germany. His arrangement of Wagner’s complete RING Cycle, entitled “The Essential RING”, was premiered by Lexington Symphony and has received international acclaim as a wonderful and respectfully approachable version of this masterpiece and is available from Boosey & Hawkes. Inc.
Mr. McPhee's best-selling recording of The Nutcracker with the Boston Ballet Orchestra has achieved “classical gold” status. Other recordings include highlights from Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty, Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet with that orchestra, and Michael Gandolfi’s Caution to the Wind on the CRI label. Mr. McPhee conducted the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Aarhus Orchestra for the films of Martha Graham’s works telecast by DANCE IN AMERICA that included Samuel Barber’s Cave of the Heart, Menotti’s Errand into the Maze, and Edgard Varese’ Integrales, Offrandes, and Octandre. Mr. McPhee also produced the restoration and conducted the soundtrack for the film of Martha Graham dancing Frontier for DANCE IN AMERICA with London’s National Philharmonic.
Born in Philadelphia, Mr. McPhee received his L.R.A.M. from the Royal Academy of Music and University of London, and a B.M. and M.M. from The Juilliard School. While at Juilliard, Mr. McPhee was the recipient of a Naumburg Scholarship in English Horn and Conducting. He studied with Leonard Brain, David Diamond, Thomas Stacy, Rudolf Kempe, Sixten Ehrling, and master classes with Sir Georg Solti.