Brian Jackson

Brian Jackson

(Anthony) Brian Jackson. Conductor, organist, pianist, b Penzance, Cornwall, England, 26 Dec 1943, naturalized Canadian 1974; FRCO 1964, ARCM 1964, BA music (Oxford) 1965, MA (Oxford) 1968. In England he began to perform in public at 6 as a pianist and at 12 as an organist, conducted choirs and orchestras, and was a producer 1965-8 for the BBC. He moved to Canada in 1968 and was organist-choirmaster 1968-71 at St John's Anglican Church in Peterborough, Ont, conductor 1968-72 of the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra and taught at Trent University. He studied conducting 1971-3 with Hans Swarowsky in Vienna, Richard Lert in Los Angeles, and Karel Ančerl and Victor Feldbrill in Toronto. In 1972 he won the Heinz Unger Award. He lived 1973-7 in Montreal (except for a year of further conducting studies in Detmold, West Germany on a Canada Council grant in 1975) where he was director of music at the Erskine and American Church and taught at Concordia University and McGill University. Moving to London, Ont in 1977 he was assistant conductor 1977-81 of the London SO (Orchestra London Canada), conducted the London Pro Musica choir, and taught at the University of Western Ontario. He was also conductor 1978-82 of the International Symphony of Sarnia and Port Huron. Jackson moved to Kingston, Ont in 1982 where he has been conductor 1982-91 of the Kingston Symphony and from 1982 of the Kingston Choral Society, conductor 1983-7 of the Pro Arte Singers, and in 1984 began to teach conducting at Queen's University. He conducted the Ontario Youth Choir in 1985, has guest conducted Symphony Nova Scotia, the NACO, the TS, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra among others, and has conducted for the Toronto Operetta Theatre and the Quinte Summer Music.