Jayce Ogren

With mounting success in both symphonic and operatic repertoire, JAYCE OGREN is building a sterling reputation as one of the finest young conductors to emerge from the United States in recent seasons. His diverse 2013/14 season includes a concert featuring works by Rufus Wainright and others sung by Wainright and soprano Melody Moore with the Toronto Symphony; a month-long run of My Fair Lady at the Chatelet in Paris; a concert of Gershwin, John Adams and the Sibelius Symphony No. 2 with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland; and two concerts with the New York Philharmonic during the inaugural NY PHIL BIENNIAL conducting the New York premiere of Steven Mackey's Dreamhouse.

In the 2012/13 season, Jayce Ogren led new productions of Benjamin Britten's Turn of the Screw and Rossini's Mosè in Egitto for the New York City Opera; he conducted the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) in programs at Columbia University's Miller Theatre and the Wien Modern Festival; and all-Stravinsky programs with the New York City Ballet. He debuted with the New York Philharmonic on the CONTACT! series conducting premieres of New York Philharmonic commissions, and led performances of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro at the Verbier Festival Academy. In Europe he premiered the film version of Bernstein's West Side Story with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in London, an event he repeated with the Detroit Symphony and with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. Returning to London he conducted the BBC Symphony at the Barbican in the world premiere of Nico Muhly's Outrage and European premieres of works by David Lang and Paola Prestini.

A native of Washington State, Ogren received his Bachelor's Degree in Composition from St. Olaf College in 2001 and his Master's Degree in Conducting from the New England Conservatory in 2003. With a Fulbright Grant, he completed a postgraduate diploma in orchestral conducting at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm where he studied with the legendary Jorma Panula and spent two summers at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen. He was appointed by Franz Welser-Most as Assistant Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director of the Cleveland Youth Orchestra. In 2009 he led the Cleveland Orchestra in regular season subscription concerts and at The Blossom Festival.

He has been guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the New World Symphony and the Grand Rapids Symphony. Ogren stepped in for James Levine to conduct the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a challenging program that included the world premiere of Peter Lieberson's song cycle Songs of Love and Sorrow with Gerald Finley. Earlier with the New York City Opera he conducted the American premiere of Rufus Wainwright's opera Prima Donna, Mozart's The Magic Flute and Bernstein's A Quiet Place for which he won extensive critical acclaim. He made his Canadian Opera debut in Stravinsky's The Nightingale & Other Short Fables. European guest engagements have included the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, the Copenhagen Philharmonic, and repeat appearances with the Asturias Symphony, regional opera companies and orchestras throughout Scandinavia.

As a composer, Ogren's works have been performed at the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music, the Brevard Music Center, the American Choral Directors Association Conference and the World Saxophone Congress. His Symphonies of Gaia has been performed by ensembles on three continents and is the title track on a DVD featuring the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra.

Ogren is an award-winning triathlete, most recently finishing in the top ten of his age group in the 2013 New York City Triathlon and second in his age group at the grueling 2013 Survival of the Shawangunks (SOS!) Triathlon.

He makes his home in Brooklyn, New York.