Graham Jackson (15 February 1967 – 23 July 2012) was a British conductor.

Early life and education

Born in

Burnham, Buckinghamshire Burnham is a large village and civil parish that lies north of the River Thames in Buckinghamshire, between the towns of Maidenhead and Slough, about 24 miles west of Charing Cross, London. It is probably best known for the nearby Burnham Beech ...

, Jackson learned the

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

and

bassoon The bassoon is a musical instrument in the woodwind family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity ...

as a child, and served as first bassoon in the

National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain The National Youth Orchestra (NYO), formerly the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, is the national youth orchestra of the United Kingdom, consisting of 164 members of ages 13 to 19 years. Auditions take place in the autumn each year at va ...

. He studied at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

from 1985 to 1988 as organ scholar, receiving a dual degree in music and mathematics. Jackson then won a scholarship to study conducting for three years at the

Royal Northern College of Music The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is a conservatoire located in Manchester, England. It is one of four conservatoires associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. In addition to being a centre of music education ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

Career

Having concluded his studies, in 1992 he joined

Welsh National Opera Welsh National Opera (WNO) () is an opera company based in Cardiff, Wales. WNO gave its first performances in 1946. The company began as a mainly amateur body and transformed into an all-professional ensemble by 1973. In its early days, the ...

as chorus master, répétiteur and conductor. He soon earned a reputation for his prodigious keyboard skills and his ability to conduct scores from memory. From 2000 to 2003, Jackson was "Kapellmeister" (principal conductor) at the

Theater Bremen Theater Bremen (Bremen Theatre) is a state theatre in Bremen, Germany, with four divisions for opera, straight theater, dance, and student programs. Its venues are located in a city block, connected in architecture and seating up to 1,426 spectato ...

, where he managed the new production of

Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded ...

's ''Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk'' to critical acclaim. He became "Generalmusikdirektor" (Director of Music) of the Theater Krefeld and Mönchengladbach in 2003. Despite being a non-smoker, he was diagnosed in 2009 with stage 4 lung cancer. He concluded his tenure in this post in early July 2012, just over a fortnight before his death. His gave his final series of concerts starting on 5 July 2012, including a performance of

Berlioz Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...

Symphonie Fantastique ' (''Fantastic Symphony: Episode in the Life of an Artist … in Five Sections'') Opus number, Op. 14, is a program music, programmatic symphony written by Hector Berlioz in 1830. The first performance was at the Paris Conservatoire on 5 December ...

. His work in contemporary music included conducting premieres of works by

François Sarhan François Sarhan (born 30 September 1972) is a French composer, installation artist, visual artist and writer. Biography Born in Rouen, Sarhan studied composition with Guy Reibel, Philippe Manoury, Brian Ferneyhough at the Conservatoire de Pa ...

, Charlotte Seither, Stefan Heucke and

Sidney Corbett Sidney Corbett (born April 26, 1960, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American composer based in Germany. Biography Sidney Corbett was born in Chicago in 1960, the son of a Jewish mother and a Catholic father, but grew up without a religious upbrin ...

. He felt that his finest achievement was the première of Heuke's work Das Frauenorchester von Auschwitz, an opera that tells how female prisoners at the concentration camp made music together under the direction of Alma Rosé, Mahler's niece. At the time it provoked much discussion in German musical circles. He was popular with both critics and audiences alike, and was voted Conductor of the Year by critics in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

for 2010–2011.

Personal life

Jackson was married for 19 years to the artist and flautist Adrienne Jackson. The couple had four children, Oliver, Helena, Daniel and Tess. He died at home in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

on 23 July 2012.

Recordings

As conductor * Anthems for the Chapel Royal of

Henry Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: ; September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer of Baroque music, most remembered for his more than 100 songs; a tragic opera, Dido and Aeneas, ''Dido and Aeneas''; and his incidental music to a version o ...

. - Hamburg: BMG Ariola, (1994) * Noah (soundtrack) Corbett, Sidney. - Berlin: Detlef Kessler, P 2004 * Essay on Shadow and Truth (soundtrack) Seither, Charlotte. Zeitklang Edition (2011)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Graham Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge English conductors (music) British male conductors (music) 1967 births 2012 deaths People from Burnham-on-Sea