Born and raised in Middlesex, England, Jonathan Colby’s conducting has been praised by the Cape Cod Times for its “precision and vitality.” In 2017, he was presented the Key to the City of Worcester by Mayor Joseph Petty. His recent engagements included guest conductor at Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University for the Ballet & Opera Theatre’s production of Oklahoma.
In May 2014, he was appointed Music Director & Conductor of the Farmington Valley Symphony Orchestra (CT). He is the second conductor in the orchestra’s history since its founding in 1982. In 2024, he celebrated 10 years with the FVSO with a performance of Saint-Saens’ Organ Symphony and Dvorak’s Te Deum with the Hartford Chorale at Christ Church Cathedral, Hartford. Fall 2025 saw another collaboration with The Hartford Chorale for Brahms’ Requiem, honoring the life of long-time FVSO violist Rev. Bill Barnes.
Jonathan enters his 15th season with Worcester Youth Orchestras (WYO). During his tenure, he has grown WYO from one orchestra to five orchestras, as well as founding the jazz, wind and chamber ensemble programs. WYO is now the largest youth orchestra program outside of metro Boston. At WYO, he conducts the 100 member Worcester Youth Symphony Orchestra, WYO’s flagship ensemble. He has toured with the orchestra to the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Austria, Montreal, Quebec and tours with them again to Great Britain in June 2027. During his time he has conducted Shostakovich Symphony No. 5, Bruckner Te Deum, Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, Schubert Symphony No. 9, Beethoven Choral Fantasy & Symphony No. 9, Dvorak, Symphony No. 8, 9 & Te Deum, Faure Requiem, Bach Brandenburgs, Orchestral Suites, Magnificat, Handel Messiah and Haydn Symphony No. 99, 104, Te Deum. His tenure has been marked by notable Mechanics Hall and Massachusetts premieres of Coleridge-Taylor’s The Bamboula and Ballade in a for Orchestra, Florence Price’s Ethiopia’s Shadow in America (MA Premiere).
Jonathan previously worked for the College Light Opera Company for 15 Seasons, 10 of which as Principal Conductor and Music Director. In 2013 he was awarded the WISE Foundation’s Conductor of the Year Award for his music direction and conducting of Die Fledermaus which the Cape Cod Time described as “dynamic” and full of “technical prowess”. At College Light Opera he garnered much praise from critics on his “commendable music direction” (Barnstable Patriot) and “inspired” (Cape Cod Times) interpretations of European and American operetta as well as classic American Musical Theater. In 2010, he was awarded a grant from the Victor Herbert Foundation to restore the entire score of the composer’s comic opera Naughty Marietta. During his tenure he conducted notable CLOC premieres of The White Horse Inn, The Zoo, and Jerome Kern’s Sally, as well as commissioned work for CLOC’s 50th Anniversary The Pierpont Lobster Race.
In demand as a guest conductor and clinician he has conducted various NYSSMA, CTMEA, MMEA festival orchestras, as well as SUNY Purchase and NYC Opera Center, the Commonwealth Lyric Opera and Annual Concerto Competition series at the Tsai Performing Arts Center. He has worked with the Nashoba Valley Chorale, The Keene Chorale, Pioneer Valley Symphony Orchestra & Youth Orchestra, Manchester Symphony Orchestra, Connecticut Symphony Orchestra and collaborated with artists William Perry, Ysaye Barnwell, Sol y Canto, Mark Miller and Dominick DiOrio.
Prior study was an apprenticeship in Salzburg and Vienna under the tutelage of Heinz Ferlesch (BCI), a BA in Music and European History from Drew University and an MM in Orchestral Conducting from UMass Amherst.
Jonathan is a member of the League of American Orchestras where he serves on the Board of Directors for the Youth Orchestra Division.