Health and Harmony on the Harbor
Jonathan McPhee, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & CONDUCTOR
Recent guest engagements include the Portland Symphony Orchestra, Plymouth Philharmonic, Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Tenerife in Spain, and the Lithuanian National Orchestra. Mr. McPhee has also appeared with the BBC Scottish Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, the Louisiana Philharmonic, The Hague Philharmonic, Rochester Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Orchestre Colonne (Paris), the National Philharmonic in London, the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Bergen Philharmonic in Norway, among others. Mr. McPhee has conducted for many of the world's premier dance companies, including the New York City Ballet, The Royal Ballet (England), Martha Graham Dance Company, National Ballet of Canada, and the Australian Ballet. In addition, Mr. McPhee has also conducted opera, appearing with Opera Boston, the American Opera Center in New York, and Boston University Opera, and further extends his diverse repertoire with pops concerts, musical theatre and operetta.
Mr. McPhee's works as an arranger and composer are in the repertoires of orchestras and ballet companies around the world. His edition of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring is the only authorized reduced orchestration of this work. Mr. McPhee's compositions and arrangements are published by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. and his edition of Stravinsky's complete Firebird for Boosey & Hawkes was recently performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra and Baltimore Symphony.
An active educator of both music and ballet, Mr. McPhee is an Artistic Advisor for Young Audiences of Massachusetts and his work with Boston's WCRB-FM on "Kids' Classical Hour" resulted in a 1998 Gabriel Award. Born in Philadelphia, Mr. McPhee received his L.R.A.M. from the London Royal Academy of Music and a B.M. and M.M. from the Juilliard School. While at Juilliard, Mr. McPhee was the recipient of a Naumburg Scholarship in Conducting and English Horn. He has studied with Leonard Brain, David Diamond, Thomas Stacy, Rudolf Kempe, Sixten Ehrling, and participated in master classes with Sir Georg Solti and James Levine at Juilliard.
"One of the most appealing things about the Longwood Symphony is that it is an orchestra of musicians who are associated with the medical community. Every concert is a benefit for some wonderful cause. But they also look at their music making as a release from the stresses of their jobs. I think of them as healers who look to music as a way of healing themselves."