About
Award-winning Australian conductor Jessica Gethin is recognised for her dynamic presence on the podium, musical versatility and inspiring artistic leadership. Equally at home in the concert hall and theatre, her repertoire spans symphonic, opera, ballet, film and contemporary works. She performs regularly with all of Australia’s major orchestras, including the Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, West Australian, Queensland and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras as well as Orchestra Victoria, and works extensively with the West Australian Ballet and The Australian Ballet.
International engagements have taken her throughout Asia, New Zealand and the United States, with appearances alongside the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Macao and The Dallas Opera. She has collaborated with distinguished classical artists including Sir Bryn Terfel and Emma Matthews AM, as well as international jazz and contemporary artists such as Harry Connick, Jr., Makoto Ozone, Michael Bolton and Chrissy Amphlett, in projects ranging from symphonic concerts to genre-bridging productions.
Jessica currently serves as Principal Conductor of West Australian Ballet, Artistic Advisor to Orchestra Victoria, and Head of Orchestral Studies and Conducting at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, where she mentors the next generation of conductors and orchestral musicians. From 2011–2019, she was Chief Conductor of the Perth Symphony, shaping the orchestra’s artistic growth and national profile. She is also an ambassador and lead faculty member for Perth Symphony’s Women on the Podium initiative, championing greater representation and leadership pathways for women in conducting.
Her accolades include being named twice in Limelight Magazine’s Top 20 Australian Artists, inclusion in the Australian Financial Review’s 100 Most Influential Women, the Brian Stacey Emerging Australian Conductor Award, a Churchill Fellowship, appointment as the inaugural Hart Institute Fellow with The Dallas Opera, finalist for West Australian of the Year, and induction into the 2024 WA Women’s Hall of Fame.
Accolades
Winner of the Brian Stacey Emerging Australian Conductor Award in 2015, Jessica was listed by Limelight Magazine in the ‘Top Twenty Australian Artists of the Year’ for 2017 as well as one of Australian Financial Review’s ‘100 Most Influential Women’ in Australia for 2015. In 2019, Jessica was announced as a finalist in the West Australian of the Year Awards for her contribution to the arts. Jessica was the recipient of a 2016 Winston Churchill Fellowship for Performance Excellence in Classical Music, as well as inaugural alumna of the Dallas Opera’s Hart Institute for Women Conductors, where she has since returned to the company as both Conductor and Assistant Conductor. Her performance of Beethoven Symphony No 7 with the Perth Chamber Orchestra was voted ‘Top Ten Best of the West’ by the West Australian in 2015.
Reviews
“The West Australian Symphony Orchestra, under the exuberant conductor Jessica Gethin, played with finesse, the poignant nuances teased out to reflect the tragedy on stage.”
– September 2019 Rita Clarke, Limelight Magazine
“There was an almost palpable air of anticipation before the start of Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony …With Jessica Gethin in top form directing proceedings from the podium…. there was a fine balance of power and grace in the opening allegro vivace. The andante cantibile was beautifully considered with as much focus on detail as on conveying the overall sweep of the movement. And the playing in the minuet was an essay in graceful strength with a frankly delightful buoyancy of both mood and momentum. The finale bought joyous energy in abundance as it flashed and glittered with fine detail.”
– August 2018 Neville Cohn, Oz Arts Review