Jonathan Darlington

Jonathan Darlington (born 1956 Lapworth, England) is a British conductor and the Music Director of the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra and Vancouver Opera. He is known for his broad repertoire of both opera and symphonic music and appears regularly with major orchestras and opera houses, most notably the Orchestre National de France, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica del San Carlo di Napoli, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, the National Orchestra of Taiwan, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, English National Opera and Opera Australia.

Education and early career

Jonathan Darlington was educated at The King's School, Worcester and is a graduate of Durham University and the Royal Academy of Music. Early in his career he had worked with Pierre Boulez, Riccardo Muti and Olivier Messiaen. He made his conducting debut in 1984 at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris with Francesco Cavalli's Ormindo. In 1991 he was appointed deputy to the Music Director Myung-Whun Chung at the Opéra de la Bastille in Paris, where he made his house debut with Le nozze di Figaro. He is the brother of conductor Stephen Darlington.

Recent performances

Recent performances include the world premiere of Manfred Trojahn's La Grande Magia with the Staatskapelle Dresden (May 2008), Gustave Charpentier's Louise with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and the Duisburg Philharmonic (October 2008), and Salome with Vancouver Opera (May 2009). He appeared as a guest conductor with the Strasbourg Philharmonic, the Philharmonisches Orchester Freiburg, and the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra. In August 2009, Darlington returned to [Opera Australia] for Beethoven's Fidelio.

In the 2009/10 season, he will conduct The Nightingale & Other Short Fables (a program of short works by Stravinsky, including his opera The Nightingale) in a new production by Robert Lepage for the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto.

Awards

Jonathan Darlington was appointed a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres as well as Fellow (FRAM) of the Royal Academy of Music, London.

Recordings

Discography

With the Orchestre National de France:

• Guillaume Connesson: Athanor, Supernova. Orchestre National de France; Radio France Chorus; Virginie Pesch, soprano; Nigel Smith, baritone; Jonathan Darlington, Muhai Tang, conductors. Radio France/ Naïve, 2004 (2007).

With the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra:

• Poulenc: Les Animaux Modèles, Sinfonietta. Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra; Jonathan Darlington, conductor. Timpani, 1998 (2008).

With the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra:

• Arnold Schönberg/ Gabriel Fauré: Pélleas et Mélisande. Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra; Jonathan Darlington, conductor. Acousence, 2009.
• Antonín Dvořák: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra G minor. Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra; Boris Bloch, Piano; Jonathan Darlington, conductor. Acousence, 2009.
• Gustav Mahler: Symphonie Nr. 6. Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Jonathan Darlington, conductor. Acousence, 2008.
• Jazz at the Philharmonic. Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra; Jonathan Darlington conductor; Andy Miles, clarinet. Telos, 2008.
• André Jolivet: Concert for Piano and Orchestra; Maurice Ravel / Marius Constant: Gaspard de la Nuit; Claude Debussy / Bernardo Molinari: L’isle joyeuse. Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra; Pascal Gallet, piano; Jonathan Darlington, conductor. Acousence, 2008.
• Dmitry Shostakovitch: Symphony A major op.141; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Haffner-Sinfonie Nr. 35 D major KV 385. Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra; Jonathan Darlington conductor. Acousence, 2007.
• Wagner-Gala der RuhrTriennale 2004. Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra; Petra-Maria Schnitzer, soprano; Peter Seiffert, tenor; Jonathan Darlington, conductor. WDR/ Oehms Classics, 2004.
• Hector Berlioz: Ouverture Benvenuto Cellini; Mauricio Kagel: Broken Chords; Béla Bartók: Concert for Orchestra. Confido, 2003.

Videography

• Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovski: Le Lac des Cygnes. Marie-Claude Pietragalla, Patrick Dupond, Ballet de l’ Opèra National de Paris, Orchestre National de Paris, Jonathan Darlington. NVC Arts, 1992.(Released on DVD in 2005, Bel Air Classiques)

Sources

• IMG Artists, Biography of Jonathan Darlington
• Vancouver Opera, Biography of Jonathan Darlington

External links

• Jonathan Darlington on Dacapo, the Duisburg Philharmonic's official blog