# Jonathan Darlington

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Jonathan_Darlington
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Jonathan_Darlington.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Darlington
> Source revision: 1325523962
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

**Jonathan Philip Darlington** (born 1956 in [Lapworth](/source/Lapworth), England) is a British conductor, music director emeritus of the [Vancouver Opera](/source/Vancouver_Opera) and the former music director of the [Duisburg Philharmonic](/source/Duisburg_Philharmonic) Orchestra.[1] 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 Paris Opera, Vienna State Opera, Frankfurt Oper, [Orchestre National de France](/source/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](/source/English_National_Opera) and [Opera Australia](/source/Opera_Australia).

## Education and early career

Jonathan Darlington was educated at [The King's School, Worcester](/source/The_King's_School,_Worcester). He graduated in 1978 with a music degree from [Durham University](/source/Durham_University), where he was a member of [Hatfield College](/source/Hatfield_College).[2] He subsequently studied at the [Royal Academy of Music](/source/Royal_Academy_of_Music). Early in his career he had worked with [Pierre Boulez](/source/Pierre_Boulez), [Riccardo Muti](/source/Riccardo_Muti) and [Olivier Messiaen](/source/Olivier_Messiaen). He made his conducting debut in 1984 at the [Théâtre des Champs Elysées](/source/Th%C3%A9%C3%A2tre_des_Champs_Elys%C3%A9es) in Paris with [Francesco Cavalli](/source/Francesco_Cavalli)'s *[Ormindo](/source/Ormindo)*. In 1991 he was appointed deputy to the music director [Myung-Whun Chung](/source/Myung-Whun_Chung) at the [Opéra de la Bastille](/source/Op%C3%A9ra_Bastille) in Paris, where he made his house debut with *[Le nozze di Figaro](/source/Le_nozze_di_Figaro)*. He is the brother of conductor CBE [Stephen Darlington](/source/Stephen_Darlington).[3]

## Career

From 2002 to 2011, Darlington was [Generalmusikdirektor](/source/Generalmusikdirektor) of the [Duisburg Philharmonic](/source/Duisburg_Philharmonic).[4] Until 2018, he was musical director at the [Vancouver Opera](/source/Vancouver_Opera) in Canada.[4] In 2022, Darlington was presented as new Generalmusikdirektor of the [Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra](/source/Nuremberg_Symphony_Orchestra) and received a contract for five years.[4]

## Recent performances

Recent performances include Verdi's *[Otello](/source/Otello)* (January 2020), Puccini's *[Madama Butterfly](/source/Madama_Butterfly)* (October 2019), Rossini's *[L'Elisir d'Amore](/source/L'Elisir_d'Amore)* and Verdi's *[Don Carlos](/source/Don_Carlos)* (September 2019) at the Vienna State Opera, Gounod's *[Faust](/source/Faust_(opera))* at Vancouver Opera (May 2019), Puccini's *[La Bohème](/source/La_Boh%C3%A8me)* at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm (February 2019) and Beethoven's *[Fidelio](/source/Fidelio)*. at the Semperoper Dresden (October 2018).

In 2008 he led the world premiere of Manfred Trojahn's *La Grande Magia* with the [Staatskapelle Dresden](/source/S%C3%A4chsische_Staatskapelle_Dresden) (May 2008).

Thanks to his background as a harpsichordist, he also has considerable experiences conducting historically informed performances of Mozart, Rossini, Cavalli's *L'Ormindo*), Tritto (*Il Convitato di Pietra o Don Giovanni*) and [Gustave Charpentier](/source/Gustave_Charpentier)'s *[Louise](/source/Louise_(opera))* with the [Deutsche Oper am Rhein](/source/Deutsche_Oper_am_Rhein) and the Duisburg Philharmonic (October 2008),

He appeared as a guest conductor with the Orchestre de Paris, the Strasbourg Philharmonic, the [Philharmonisches Orchester Freiburg](/source/Philharmonisches_Orchester_Freiburg), the Nürnberger Symphoniker, the Duisburg Philharmonic and the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra. As well as the Orchestra of the 18th Century.

In the near future, Jonathan Darlington will conduct Offenbach's *Grande Duchesse Gerolstein* at the Dresden Semperoper, Henze's *Prinz von Homburg* at the Frankfurt Oper and Die Fledermaus at the Staatsoper Hamburg.

## Awards

Darlington was appointed a [Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres](/source/Chevalier_des_Arts_et_des_Lettres) as well as Fellow (FRAM) of the [Royal Academy of Music](/source/Royal_Academy_of_Music), London.[5]

- 2010 [Echo Klassik](/source/Echo_Klassik)[4]

## 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 Schoenberg/ 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](/source/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](/source/Petra-Maria_Schnitzer), soprano; [Peter Seiffert](/source/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](/source/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

1. ["Jonathan Darlington – New Songs, Playlists & Latest News – BBC Music"](https://web.archive.org/web/20181220214656/https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/131fdfc4-a667-4c5b-b87c-ac2c0b39115c). BBC. Archived from [the original](https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/131fdfc4-a667-4c5b-b87c-ac2c0b39115c) on 20 December 2018. Retrieved 3 September 2018.

1. ["Durham University Gazette, XXV (ns) no. 2 including supplement"](http://reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?docId=bookreader/DU_Gazettes/DUGazette25_2/dg252METS.xml#page/38/mode/2up). Durham University. Retrieved 13 March 2018.

1. ["Jonathan Darlington"](https://web.archive.org/web/20180811231015/http://www.jonathan-darlington.com/page/4/). Archived from [the original](http://www.jonathan-darlington.com/page/4/) on 11 August 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2011.

1. ["Darlington neuer Generalmusikdirektor der Nürnberger Symphoniker – neue musikzeitung"](https://www.nmz.de/kiz/nachrichten/darlington-neuer-generalmusikdirektor-der-nuernberger-symphoniker) (in German). *[nmz](/source/Nmz)*. Retrieved 27 March 2022.

1. ["Jonathan Darlington – conductor"](http://www.acousence.de/index.php/aartists/75-jonathan-darlington-conductor). *acousence.de*. Retrieved 3 September 2018.

- [IMG Artists](/source/IMG_(business)), [Biography of Jonathan Darlington](http://www.imgartists.com/?page=artist&id=266)
- [Vancouver Opera](/source/Vancouver_Opera), [Biography of Jonathan Darlington](http://www.vancouveropera.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=220&Itemid=15)

## External links

- [Jonathan Darlington](https://web.archive.org/web/20181220214656/https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/131fdfc4-a667-4c5b-b87c-ac2c0b39115c) on [BBC Music](/source/BBC_Music)
- [Jonathan Darlington](http://www.jonathan-darlington.com/about/) official website

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Jonathan Darlington](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Darlington) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Darlington?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.