The British conductor Graeme Jenkins is renowned for the breadth of his repertoire and experience in the field of Opera. Graeme Jenkins studied music at Cambridge University, conducting at the Royal College of Music with Norman Del Mar and David Willcocks. Straight from the Royal College of Music, he was appointed Music Director of the Glyndebourne Touring Opera (1986−91). He then spent 20 years as Music Director of the Dallas Opera (1994−2013) and was also Principal Guest Conductor of the Koln Oper (1997−2002).
As Music Director in Dallas, he conducted 60 productions including the transition into Lord Foster’s
Winspear Opera House, which he opened with Otello
in 2009. Other highlights there include Wagner’s Ring Cycle, Wozzeck, Ariodante, Godounov, Pikovaya dama, and Tristan und Isolde. Most recently he conducted Manon there in 2016. Elsewhere in North America, he has worked for Opera Theater St Louis, Glimmerglass and the Canadian Opera Company. Maestro Jenkins has conducted in all five continents with most of the leading orchestras.
Most recently, he conducted Kat’a Kabanova at the Vienna State Opera, his 187th operatic production of 116 different works. In August 2017, he was in Glasgow with the RNSO and the Chinese Soprano Li ping Zhang recording a CD of Verdi aria for DECCA. In 2018, he makes his debut with the Santa Rosa Symphony in California in a Haydn, Mozart, Bartók series of concerts.
Because of his wide repertoire he has been at the helm of several singing competition finals, notably Cardiff, Toulouse, ARD (Munich), Neue Stimmen in 2015 and in 2017. Graeme Jenkins is also a Choral and Orchestral conductor, renowned for his interpretations of Mozart, Richard Strauss and Britten.
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