Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

Jacob Joyce is Associate Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, appointed by Music Director Manfred Honeck in October 2021. A dynamic and innovative presence on the podium, Joyce served as Resident Conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony, appearing with the ISO several times in the '19-'20 and '20-'21 seasons, in various classical, education, Happy Hour, and community concerts. He also made his debut with several American orchestras in recent seasons, including the Detroit, St. Louis, Houston, Colorado, Ann Arbor, Richmond, Baton Rouge and Spartanburg symphonies. Abroad, Joyce has conducted the London Symphony Orchestra, the NDR-Sinfonieorchester, the hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, and the Frankfurt Museumsorchester and the Hamilton Philharmonic. For his work in Indianapolis and around the world, Joyce was awarded a Solti Career Assistance Award in 2020.

Joyce previously served as the Conducting Fellow for the Fort Worth Symphony, with whom he collaborates frequently, and has also held positions as the Associate Conductor of the Yale Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Berkeley College Orchestra, Music Director of the Opera Theater of Yale College, and Cover Conductor of the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston. An avid promoter of contemporary music, Joyce has conducted several premieres of orchestral and operatic works. Joyce is also an advocate for bringing classical music to new audiences. He is the host and creator of the podcast Attention to Detail: The Classical Music Listening Guide, which provides people of all backgrounds with basic techniques for listening to classical music. He also works extensively with educators, music teachers, and orchestra directors, providing career advice and instruction to students across the country.

Joyce studied Orchestral Conducting with Hugh Wolff at the New England Conservatory. He has also received instruction at the Tanglewood Music Center and the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen. In recognition of his work, Joyce was awarded the Robert Spano Conducting Prize at Aspen, and was a semifinalist in the LSO Donatella Flick Conducting Competition and the Solti International Conducting Competition. Joyce graduated from Yale College in 2014, with a B.A. in Music and Economics. He also received a M.M. in Violin Performance from the Yale School of Music in 2015, studying with Syoko Aki.

As a violinist, Joyce has performed with several orchestras nationwide, and was awarded the Broadus Erle Prize for an Outstanding Violinist at the Yale School of Music. He served as the concertmaster of the Yale Symphony Orchestra and performed regularly with the Boston Philharmonic and the Atlantic Symphony. He has previously attended the Tanglewood Music Center, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, and Encore School for Strings.

James Ehnes has established himself as one of the most sought-after musicians on the international stage. Gifted with a rare combination of stunning virtuosity, serene lyricism and an unfaltering musicality, James is a favorite guest at the world’s most celebrated concert halls.

Recent orchestral highlights include the Met Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, San Francisco Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra and Munich Philharmonic. Throughout the 2022-23 season, James continues as artist-in-residence with the National Arts Centre of Canada.

Alongside his concerto work, James maintains a busy recital schedule. He performs regularly at the Wigmore Hall (including the complete cycle of Beethoven Sonatas in 2019-20, and the complete violin/viola works of Brahms and Schumann in 2021-22), Carnegie Hall, Symphony Center Chicago, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Ravinia, Montreux, Verbier Festival, Dresden Music Festival and Festival de Pâques in Aix. A devoted chamber musician, he is the leader of the James Quartet and the artistic director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society.

James has an extensive discography and has won many awards for his recordings, including two Grammy Awards, a Gramophone Award and 11 Juno Awards. In 2021, James was announced as the recipient of the coveted Artist of the Year title in the 2021 Gramophone Awards, which celebrated his recent contributions to the recording industry, including the launch of a new online recital series entitled Recitals from Home, which was released in June 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent closure of concert halls. James recorded the six Bach sonatas and partitas and six sonatas of Ysaÿe from his home with state-of-the-art recording equipment and released six episodes over the period of two months. These recordings have been met with great critical acclaim by audiences worldwide, and James was described by Le Devoir as being “at the absolute forefront of the streaming evolution.”

James began violin studies at the age of 5, became a protégé of the noted Canadian violinist Francis Chaplin at age 9 and made his orchestra debut with L’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal at age 13. He continued his studies with Sally Thomas at the Meadowmount School of Music and The Juilliard School, winning the Peter Mennin Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Music upon his graduation in 1997. He is a member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Manitoba, a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and an honorary fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, where he is a visiting professor.