Biography

Jonathan Girard is a visionary conductor known for his generous, sophisticated musicianship and boundless enthusiasm on and off the podium.

Based in Vancouver, Canada, Girard holds prestigious international positions: Director of Orchestras at the University of British Columbia School of Music, Artistic Director of the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Athens Philharmonic (Greece), and Music Director of the Tokyo Opera Studio.

Recent international engagements include multiple projects with the Orquestra Sinfônica de Porto Alegre (Brazil), his debut with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and engagements and residencies in Asia, Europe, and Australia. Recent Canadian projects include those with the Okanagan Symphony, Vancouver Island Symphony, Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra, and others.

A prolific recording artist, Girard's discography has earned continuing critical acclaim. His 2021 album Soaring Spirits earned a Juno Award nomination and won the Western Canadian Music Award. His work has been featured on television on The National in Canada and broadcast on NPR (US) and the CBC (Canada), as well as on four commercial recordings of works by Canadian premieres by Arvo Pärt, Kaija Saariaho, Ana Sokolović, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Óscar Navarro, Florence Price, and Francis Poulenc. He is also known for designing innovative interdisciplinary projects that blend orchestral improvisation, visual arts, climate data, and groundbreaking technology.

Maestro Girard has become internationally known for his conducting pedagogy and has trained working professional conductors across the US and Canada. He maintains a significant presence at festivals, clinics, masterclasses and summer festivals like the Vancouver Symphony Orchestral Institute and Marrowstone Music Festival.  Through residencies at world-class institutions — including the Eastman School of Music and the Melbourne Conservatorium — he continues to influence the global landscape of orchestral performance and education.

He holds a Doctorate in Orchestral Conducting from the Eastman School of Music, where he was awarded the prestigious Walter Hagen Conducting Prize, an M.M. from Boston University and a B.Mus. summa cum laude from the Hartt School of Music.

Off the podium, he enjoys traveling the world and is a multi-engine instrument rated pilot. As in music, the detailed mechanics and discipline of flying lead to freedom, adventure, and poetry.