Jess Hoskins (b. 2001) is a conductor from London. They recently made their debut with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conducting Jonathan Harvey’s Tranquil Abiding in concert at City Halls, following a four-day masterclass with Martyn Brabbins. Jess conducted Street Orchestra Live’s 2025 summer tour, bringing a broad range of repertoire to schools, care homes, and public spaces across England.
In October 2024 Jess was invited to be assistant conductor for the London Symphony Orchestra’s collaboration with Nonclassical at the Hackney Empire, a concert featuring works by thirteen living composers conducted by Darren Bloom. They assisted Alpesh Chauhan and Paolo Bortolameolli on the National Youth Orchestra’s Spring 2025 tour, and worked as assistant to Olivia Clarke and chorus master on Royal Academy Opera’s acclaimed production of Die Zauberflöte. Next season Jess looks forward to assisting Ben Glassberg at Opéra de Rouen.
Jess graduated with distinction from the master’s course in orchestral conducting at the Royal Academy of Music, where they studied with Sian Edwards. Jess won the Academy’s Commendation for Excellence, the top prize at graduation, as well as the exam board prize for conducting. While studying, Jess took part in masterclasses with Jac van Steen, Ed Gardner, and Mark Stringer, and worked alongside Sir Mark Elder, John Wilson, Susanna Mälkki and Trevor Pinnock. They also studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with Antony Hermus as part of the Elton John Global Exchange programme.
Jess has performed with the Haydn Chamber Orchestra and Forest Philharmonic, and New Mozaart Orchestra. Their music directing experience in the theatre includes two premieres at Tête à Tête opera, three productions of Royal Academy Opera Scenes, the second UK production of Philip Venables’ Denis and Katya, and the 2020 ADC Theatre production of My Fair Lady. They have given premieres of works by over a dozen composers and have consistently foregrounded contemporary music in their orchestral programming. Jess is the founder of The Orchestral Dance Music Experiment, a new project combining electronic dance music with live instrumentals, and they look forward to developing this project in club spaces in London later in the year.
Jess holds a first-class degree in music from the university of Cambridge, where they have since been invited back as a regular guest teacher in conducting. Jess is a learning support tutor at the Royal Academy of Music and they also work as a freelance singer, double bassist, arranger and composer.
