Jacksonville Symphony Conductors

Courtney Lewis

Music Director
Haskell Endowed Chair

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 tenth 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.

The Florida-Times Union has noted [that] “it’s beyond debate that Lewis has been a transformative figure...leading the [Jacksonville] Symphony.” Under Lewis’s leadership, the artistic caliber has improved considerably, and the symphony has grown in size and national reputation, recently making its first broadcast on NPR’s Performance Today.

Deeply committed to new music, Lewis has worked with many of today's leading composers. In Jacksonville, recent and upcoming commissions include works by Carlos Simon, Sean Shepherd, Tarik O'Regan, Courtney Bryan, and Conrad Tao. In May 2023, Lewis made his debut at the Opéra national de Paris Ballet, conducting Thomas Adès’s Dante.

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Nathaniel Efthimiou

Associate Conductor & JSYO Music Director
Winston Family Endowed Chair

Nathaniel Efthimiou is the Associate Conductor of the Jacksonville Symphony and Music Director of Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestras since the 2024/25 Season. He previously served as Assistant Conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and Assistant Professor of Music at Berklee College of Music. He is a four-time recipient of The Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award and was recently selected by members of the Vienna Philharmonic as the AAF/Faber Young Conductor Fellowship (formerly the Karajan Fellowship) at the Salzburg Festival. He was a semi-finalist in the 2nd Hong Kong International Conducting Competition 2023.

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Na'Zir McFadden

Assistant Conductor

American conductor Na'Zir McFadden is known for connecting audiences through dynamic, expressive performances that honor tradition while embracing fresh perspectives. Celebrated for his “great conducting technique and energetic podium presence” (The Philadelphia Inquirer), his interpretations are praised for their “rhythmic vitality and naturally expressive nuances” (Boston Classical Review). McFadden brings new dimension to the classics and actively supports contemporary and underrepresented voices in today’s orchestral landscape.

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Donald McCullough

Director, Jacksonville Symphony Chorus
Tom Zimmerman Endowed Chair

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.

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jacksonville symphony chorus