Jonathan Girard
is in his fifth season as Music Director of the Waltham Philharmonic.
He also serves as the associate conductor of the Brockton
Symphony Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the Boston
Orpheus Ensemble. From 1996-2000 he was the assistant conductor
of the Portland (ME) Opera Repertory Theatre under the direction
of Bruce Hangen, principal guest conductor of the Boston Pops
Orchestra. He is now a graduate student in orchestral conducting
at Boston University.
Mr. Girard has been selected over three summers
as a conducting fellow for the prestigious Pierre Monteux
School for orchestral conductors in Hancock, ME.
Mr. Girard's teachers have included
Jonathan Cohler, Richard Rusack, Paul Oakley, Michael Jinbo,
and Benjamin Zander. Other ensembles he has conducted include
the Providence Singers, the Cambridge Symphony, the Worcester
Youth Symphony, and the Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert & Sullivan
Players.
Also a classical saxophonist, he graduated
summa cum laude in saxophone performance from the Hartt School
of Music. There, he won the prestigious Emerson String Quartet
Soloist Competition and became the first saxophonist to ever
perform with that group. He has appeared as a soloist with
many ensembles throughout New England. In December 1999 he
gave the world premiere of Gunther Schuller's Saxophone
Sonata in Hartford. In spring of 2000, he performed the world
premier of A Tribute to Kerouac by Boston composer David Alpher.
Mr. Girard is also a pipe organist. He serves
as the Music Director and Principal Organist at St. Mary of
the Assumption Church in Dedham, Mass. There he conducts a
40-member choir that been praised as one of the finest in
the Boston Archdiocese. He currently resides in Cambridge,
Mass. |