“His work shows the highest level of musicianship and technical understanding and he has the great gift of being able both to explain and demonstrate the theory and practice of his art.”
Maxim Vengerov
A unique understanding of orchestra development and the connections between gesture and sound mean that Jonathan Brett is in demand both as a teacher of conducting and as an orchestral coach.
As well as teaching privately, he co-founded the Conductors’ Academy in 2009 with another former Simonov student, Maciej Zóltowski. Aiming to provide exceptional learning experiences for those interested in sophisticated techniques of conducting, CA developed rapidly: it has produced classes in the UK, Brazil, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Russia with students attending from five continents.
Starting from the premise that ideal of performance is that it should be a truly living process, not simply a re-creation of what was rehearsed, his teaching seeks to show clearly the mechanisms of sound, psychology and gesture which enable a conductor to unleash the true power of collective expression.
Assuming that a person has the requisite musical expertise and imagination, his proposition is the need to understand and assimilate the processes which create a strong connection between gesture and sound; to accept that, as in every other sphere of musical activity, effective and consistent performance at a professional level involves disciplined techniques which can and should be learned.
