Hope Connachan-Holmes / RCS

Recently announced as the new Musical Director of New London Chamber Choir, Jess Hoskins is rapidly building a varied career with a strong emphasis on contemporary music, opera and innovative cross-genre projects. They are currently working at Garsington Opera as trainee assistant conductor on The Importance of Being Earnest, and they look forward to engagements at Glyndebourne and Opera North next season. They have been selected to represent their generation of British conductors at this summer’s international Fiskars Festival, with coaching from Vasily Petrenko and Jukka-Pekka Saraste. 

Jess’ experience as an assistant conductor includes projects with the London Symphony Orchestra, Opéra de Rouen, National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and Royal Academy Opera. Last summer they made their debut with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra following a four-day masterclass with Martyn Brabbins. Jess’ music directing experience in the theatre includes Philip Venables’ Denis and Katya, Maxwell Davies’ Miss Donnithorne’s Maggot and two premieres at Tête-à-Tête opera, and they have premiered concert works by dozens of composers. 

Jess graduated with distinction from the master’s course in orchestral conducting at the Royal Academy of Music, where they studied with Sian Edwards, winning the exam board prize for conducting and the Commendation for Excellence, the Academy's highest graduation honour. 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 is also a DJ and the founder of The Orchestral Dance Music Experiment, a new project combining electronic dance music with live instrumentals, set to expand in club spaces in London later this year.