Laura
Jackson
Conducting Fellow, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
Laura
Jackson began her
appointment as the Conducting Fellow of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in
September. She conducts the ASO's Young People's Concerts, serves as cover
conductor for the subscription series, and trains with music director Robert
Spano. She also continues her doctoral studies in orchestral conducting at
the University of Michigan School of Music, where she studies with Kenneth
Kiesler. In addition she has served as music director of the Life Sciences
Orchestra at the university's Medical Center.
In the summer of 2003, Ms. Jackson was the Seiji Ozawa Conducting Fellow at
the Tanglewood Music Center, where she shared a concert with Rafael Frühbeck
de Burgos, performing Haydn's Symphony No. 104. During the Festival of Contemporary
Music, she collaborated with composers Augusta Read Thomas, Evis Sammoutis,
and Jakov Jakoulov and assisted conductor Stefan Asbury in the premiere production
of Robert Zuidam's opera Rage d'amours. She spent the previous summer at Tanglewood
as well, working with composers Kaija Saariaho, Jeff Myers, and Julia Wolfe.
Ms. Jackson
has been active as a guest conductor. Her recent engagements have included
performances with the New Hampshire All-State Orchestra, the Maine All-State
Orchestra, and the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra, as well as fully
staged performances of Mozart's Don Giovanni and Handel's Xerxes with the
University of Michigan Opera Theatre.
Ms. Jackson previously conducted and performed throughout New England, holding
posts in a variety of musical settings. She served as assistant conductor
at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School and as director of orchestral
studies at Colby College. She was music director and conductor of the Nashua
Chamber Orchestra for seven years, helping to establish the group's state-wide
reputation, while also serving as assistant conductor at Phillips Exeter Academy.
Ms. Jackson comes to the ASO as a member of the American Conducting Fellows Program, a national conductor-training program developed and managed by the American Symphony Orchestra League to support the musical and leadership development of exceptionally talented conductors in the early stages of their professional careers. Aiming to improve the qualifications of American conductors to assume leadership roles as music directors of American orchestras, the program is funded by major grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.