Jonathon Heyward: A conversation with the BSO's new music director

By Tom Hall,

Teria Rogers, Rob Sivak, Malarie Pinkard-Pierre

Published February 27, 2023 at 12:00 PM EST

Jonathon Heyward is an internationally renowned young conductor who was tapped last year as the Music Director-Designate of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Heyward begins his five-year contract with the BSO this May. (photo credit: Jeremy Ayres Fischer) — Jonathon Heyward is an internationally renowned young conductor who was tapped last year as the Music Director-Designate of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Heyward begins his five-year contract with the BSO's 2023-24 season this fall. (photo credit: Jeremy Ayres Fischer)

We open this edition of Midday with music by Gustav Holst ("Mars," from his "Planets" Suite), in a performance by the Seattle Symphony under the direction ofJonathon Heyward.

Mr. Heyward, to borrow a phrase, is young, gifted and Black. And next season, he will become the new Music Director of theBaltimore Symphony Orchestra. A 30 year-old from Charleston, South Carolina, he is the first person of African descent to lead the BSO, and only the second Black conductor to lead an American top-tier orchestra.

Jonathan Heyward has guest-conducted orchestras in America and abroad, and he has served as the chief conductor of theNordwestdeutsche Philharmonie in Germany. Here’s a sample of some of his work with that ensemble, performing the music of Franz Joseph Haydn...

Jonathon Heyward's historic tenure at the BSO begins with the orchestra's 2023-24 season this fall. He joins Tom today in Studio A…

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) has been recognized for more than a century as one of America’s premier orchestras and one of Maryland’s most important cultural institutions. The orchestra is internationally renowned and locally admired for its performances and recordings and its community and youth-oriented educational programs. (photo courtesy BSO)

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Jonathan Heyward and Tom Hall will continue their conversation this evening at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall here in Baltimore. They'll talk more about his plans for his inaugural season as the BSO’s Music Director, in an event that will include some performances by members of the orchestra.

Doors open at 7:00, and the program begins at 7:30pm. Click the event link for more information.