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.