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British conductor Tess Jackson works across the United Kingdom and Austria in both opera and symphonic genres. She is the Assistant Conductor at Volksoper Wien for the 23/24 season, and Associate Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain 2024. She was recently featured in Classic FM’s Rising Stars of 2023 list.

Recent debuts include conducting Gavin Higgins’ Concerto Grosso with the National Youth Orchestra of GB and National Youth Brass Band of GB at the Royal Festival Hall and Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, as well as performances of Kander and Ebb’s “Cabaret” at Volksoper Wien. Last season, Tess made her debut with Garsington Opera, stepping in at short notice to conduct Smetana’s The Bartered Bride.
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Later this year she assists Music Director Enrique Mazzola on the Lyric Opera of Chicago production of Beethoven’s Fidelio, and looks forward to returning to the Volksoper to conduct performances of West Side Story. In 2025, Tess makes her much anticipated symphonic debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.4 and Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason. 

In 2022, Tess assisted Alpesh Chauhan with both the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. She is one of seven conductors invited by the Royal Philharmonic Society to front a new scheme for female conductors in association with the Royal Northern Sinfonia at Sage Gateshead, and has also worked with the London Chamber Orchestra.

Tess grew up in Germany and learned violin and piano before moving towards conducting. She read music at the University of Cambridge and subsequently studied conducting at the Royal Academy of Music with Sian Edwards, winning both the Conducting Prize and the Regency Award for outstanding performance.