Biography
Job Title: Senior Lecturer
Courses Taught: BA (Hons) Music (Classical), Contextual Studies: Musical Direction
Specialisms: Conducting
Born in Gernika in the Basque Country of Spain, Jon Malax conducts regularly in both Spain and the United Kingdom. In Spain he has conducted many ensembles such as the Orquesta Radio Televisión Española, the Basque Country Symphony Orchestra, Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, Navarra Symphony Orchestra, Oviedo Filarmonía, Orquesta Sinfónica de Extremadura, the Orfeón Pamplonés and the Malaga Philharmonic. Recently, Jon has been the assistant conductor of the two main opera houses in Spain: Teatro Real (Madrid) and Liceu (Barcelona). He has been Music Director of the Basque Youth Orchestra since 2016.
In the UK he has conducted Manchester Camerata, Hallam Sinfonia, Liverpool Mozart Orchestra, Crosby Symphony Orchestra, Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra, North Staffordshire Symphony Orchestra and the Derbyshire City & County Youth Orchestra amongst others. He has been Music Director of Solihull Symphony Orchestra since 2013.
As a keen advocate of new music, Jon performed the world premiere of Simon Dobson’s Trombone Concerto with Peter Moore and the RNCM Brass Band, broadcast on BBC Radio 2.
Following his studies with Dale Clevenger at Roosevelt University in Chicago, Jon moved to Manchester in 2010 to study orchestral conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM). Upon completion of his studies he was awarded the Mortimer-Furber Prize in Conducting, and in 2011 he was appointed as a conductor of the Junior RNCM. Jon has been Senior Lecturer in Conducting at Leeds Conservatoire since 2014. As a guest conducting tutor, Jon has taught at the RAF, RNCM (both undergraduate courses and international short conducting courses) and University of Manchester.