Finan Jones is an orchestral conductor praised for his “instinctive musicality and his passion for music of different genres” (John Eliot Gardiner, 2024). Since the start of the 2024 season, he has been the Assistant Conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, working closely with Nathalie Stutzmann. In recent years, he has conducted orchestras including the English Baroque Soloists, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Luxembourg Philharmonic, Constellation Choir and Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra String Ensemble.
His approach to music making is authentic, collaborative with a strong focus on allowing space for artistic expression from the musicians he works with. This approach has led him to work as assistant to many high profile conductors including Vasily Petrenko, Stephane Deneve, Aziz Shokhakimov and Roderick Cox. Finan continues to benefit from an apprenticeship with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and has worked as his assistant with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras and the Constellation Choir and Orchestra.
In the Opera pit, Finan has conducted a performance of British Youth Opera’s new production of Rossini’s L’Occasione fa il Ladro (Opera Holland Park 2021). He was part of the original creative team which developed a new opera with support from the Barbican Centre, Sane and Sound (Milton Court Theatre 2019), for which he conducted the premiere, and was assistant conductor to Dominic Wheeler and chorus master for Lliam Paterson’s new opera The Angel Esmeralda (GSMD 2020). He was also part of the music staff for the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and Monteverdi Choir’s 2023 performances of Berlioz’s Les Troyens.
Finan is a strong advocate for learning and participation projects, with a keen interest in music education. This has included education work with the Royal Albert Hall, LSO Discovery and the Atlanta Symphony as well as developing his own projects taking chamber orchestras into schools in London.
In the recording studio, Finan has assisted on an album of orchestral works by Jonathan Dove performed by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and has conducted the West European Symphony Orchestra for two recording sessions in Abbey Road studios. He was the assistant conductor on Deutche Grammophon’s recently released disc of the Brahms Symphonies with Sir John Eliot and the Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Finan Jones and cast of British Youth Opera production of Rossini’s ‘L’Occasione fa il Ladro’ at Opera Holland Park