Artistic Director

Jennifer Condon was born in Wollongong in 1983. In 1989 she attended her first Opera Australia production and from the age of 11 determined to be an opera conductor. Music scholarships for her early education at The Illawarra Grammar School, Wollongong Conservatorium and Kambala assisted with this course.

Kambala accelerated Jennifer’s music education and organised mentoring at Opera Australia as part of her regular curriculum. From this time, Jennifer has worked closely with Simone Young, a strong influence in her development.

Jennifer attained her A.Mus.A and L.Mus.A in Piano and completed a Bachelor of Music Studies at the Sydney Conservatorium. During her undergraduate years, she studied operatic conducting with Vladimir Vais in Melbourne, was assistant conductor for Melbourne City Opera’s La Boheme, and conducted The Tales of Hoffmann for the Sydney University Arts Festival.

Jennifer moved to Europe in 2005 to study operatic conducting in Vienna. She attended masterclasses throughout Europe and worked as a free-lance vocal coach in Austria and Germany.

From 2008 – 2014, Jennifer was employed as Maestro Suggeritore at the Hamburg State Opera, where she acquired an extensive operatic repertoire of over 65 works and established an affinity with many of the world’s finest singers.

During her time in Hamburg, Jennifer gained the rights from the Estate of Peggy Glanville-Hicks to work on that composer’s final opera, Sappho. She assembled an internationally renowned cast and conducted the world premiere recording in Glanville-Hicks’ centenary year.

Working freelance since 2014, Jennifer has assisted many eminent conductors, primarily in the romantic and modern German operatic repertoire, in theatres across the globe. Her commitment to Australian repertoire is steadfast – demonstrated most recently in an all-Australian gala programme presented in Guadalajara, Mexico in May 2019.

Largely due to the enthusiasm and support of the Peggy Glanville-Hicks Composers’ House Trust, Shane Simpson and the late James Murdoch, Jennifer has now been granted the rights to the world premiere production of Sappho.

Further details of Jennifer’s career can be found at www.jennifercondon.com