Graham Jackson (British conductor)

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

Graham Jackson
Born15 February 1967
Burnham, Buckinghamshire, England
Died23 July 2012 (aged 45)
Cambridge, England
Alma materTrinity College, Cambridge (BA)
Royal Northern College of Music (MMus)
Spouse(s)Adrienne Jackson
Children4

Early life and education

Born in Burnham, Buckinghamshire, Jackson learned the clarinet, piano and bassoon as a child, and served as first bassoon in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. He studied at Trinity College, Cambridge 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 in Manchester.

Career

Having concluded his studies, in 1992 he joined Welsh National Opera as chorus master, répétiteur and conductor. He soon earned a reputation for his prodigious keyboard skills and his ability to conduct scores from memory.[1]

From 2000 to 2003, Jackson was "Kapellmeister" (principal conductor) at the Theater Bremen, where he managed the new production of Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk to critical acclaim.[1] He became "Generalmusikdirektor" (Director of Music) of the Theater Krefeld and Mönchengladbach in 2003. [2] 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,[3] just over a fortnight before his death.[4] His gave his final series of concerts starting on 5 July 2012, including a performance of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique.

His work in contemporary music included conducting premieres of works by François Sarhan, Charlotte Seither, Stefan Heucke and Sidney Corbett.[1] 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 for 2010–2011.[5]

Personal life

Jackson was married for 19 years to the artist and flautist Adrienne Jackson.[6] The couple had four children, Oliver, Helena, Daniel and Tess. He died at home in Cambridge on 23 July 2012.[1]

Recordings

As conductor

  • Anthems for the Chapel Royal of Henry Purcell. - Hamburg: BMG Ariola, (1994)
  • Noah (soundtrack) Corbett, Sidney. - Berlin: Detlef Kessler, P 2004
  • Essay on Shadow and Truth (soundtrack) Seither, Charlotte. Zeitklang Edition (2011)
gollark: I have a cool spell which summons water, explodes in it, then summons a conjured block to remove the water.
gollark: Mostly explosions.
gollark: > Lanterns can be placed on the top or hanging under most solid blocks, although some will require sneaking. (arguably also useful)
gollark: > Lanterns give off a light level of 15, which is one level higher than torches. They also melt snow layers within 2 blocks and ice within 3 blocks.
gollark: They are marginally brighter than torches.

References
  1. Timothy Reynish (2012-10-02). "Graham Jackson obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 2015-05-16.
  2. "Namen & Fakten". Oper & Tanz. 2003-02-22. Retrieved 2015-11-04.
  3. Dirk Richerdt (2012-07-24). "Jackson: Tränen zum Abschied". Rheinischen Post. Retrieved 2012-08-06.
  4. Petra Diederichs (2012-07-24). "Trauer um Graham Jackson". Rheinischen Post. Retrieved 2012-08-06.
  5. "Graham Jackson". The Telegraph. 2012-08-09. Retrieved 2015-05-16.
  6. "Adrienne Jackson". Retrieved 2015-11-04.
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