Jacksonville Symphony Conductors

Anchored in the belief that music holds the power to transform lives, Courtney Lewis has established himself as one of his generation’s most dynamic conductors. Currently in his eighth season as Music Director of the Jacksonville Symphony, Lewis has designed an ambitious mission to enrich the surrounding community with innovative symphonic programming, creating the highest quality of art possible, accessible to all. Deeply committed to new music, Lewis has worked with and commissioned many of today’s leading composers. In 2016, he assisted Thomas Adès at the Salzburg Festival for the premiere of Adès’ opera The Exterminating Angel. In Jacksonville, recent and upcoming commissions include works by Carlos Simon, Sean Shepherd, Tarik O’Regan, Courtney Bryan and Conrad Tao.

As the 2021 Tanglewood Music Center Conducting Fellow and three-time recipient of Career Assistance Grants from The Solti Foundation U.S., Kevin Fitzgerald is at the forefront of the next generation of conductors. In addition to his post in Jacksonville, Fitzgerald has recently guest conducted the Rochester Philharmonic, North Carolina Symphony and the Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh. In his commitment to uplifting communities through music, Fitzgerald conducted Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in 2017 with musicians from the Detroit, Lansing and Grand Rapids Symphonies to raise over $10,000 for the International Rescue Committee and Freedom House Detroit. In 2016, he also co-organized and conducted an impromptu performance called “Requiem for Orlando,” which featured over 400 volunteer musicians in a dedicated performance for victims of the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida. Since then, he has participated in masterclasses with Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony, Andris Nelsons and Alan Gilbert at Tanglewood among many others.

Grant O'Brien is a conductor, composer, and producer of music and musical productions. During his studies at the Eastman School of Music, he worked extensively with conductors Dr. Oliver Hagen, Dr. Mark Scatterday, Professor Brad Lubman in addition to the Emmy Award winning Mark Watters. Currently, Grant is studying orchestral conducting with Neil Varon at the Eastman School of Music. Upcoming performances include engagements with JoAnn Falletta and Peter Bay at the Mostly Modern Festival in Saratoga Springs and work as a playback operator for Cineconcerts. As a classically trained artist with a devotion to popular AND contemporary music, Grant continues to display himself as a versatile musician and an inventive concert producer.

Grant has conducted many ensembles in the Rochester area including the Syracuse Society for New Music, New Horizons String and Full Orchestra, Upstate Brass Band, Eastman Tuba Mirum, MO Ensemble and Empire Film and Media Ensemble. He has also conducted in countless degree recitals at the Eastman School of Music in addition to several recording sessions with ensembles ranging from octet to a 50-piece orchestra. Most notably, Grant has conducted recording sessions for the award winning web-series, “Star Trek Continues” and film, “Aquarium” by Stephanie Maxwell.

Hailed by the Washington Post for his “dazzling expertise” on the podium, Donald McCullough is considered one of America’s pre-eminent choral conductors. He became the Director of the Jacksonville Symphony Chorus in 2012. In November 2014 he led the Jacksonville Symphony Chorus on its first appearance in Carnegie Hall. Previously, he was the director of the Master Chorale of Washington in the John F. Kennedy Center Concert Hall for more than a decade, developing a reputation for creating choruses that sang “with an innate sense of lyricism and musical poise” and “sensitive, scrupulous and heartfelt” (Washington Post).

During his tenure with the Master Chorale, the 120-member symphonic chorus performed 16 world premieres, produced three nationally distributed CDs, and toured twice throughout Central Europe. The Chorale earned The Margaret Hillis Achievement Award for Choral Excellence in North America.