Official Bio
Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Jonathan Snowden moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina at only two months old. He spent the first ten years of his life in Argentina before his family ultimately settled down in the United States.
Jonathan began playing the violin at age 10. His precocious abilities quickly earned him the seat of concertmaster for the Kansas City Youth Symphony. He conducted his school orchestra for the first time at age 12, and from that moment he knew he would become a conductor.
At 14, Jonathan inherited a saxophone from his uncle who had played with Doc Severinsen’s band. He surprised his teachers when he decided that—in addition to continuing studies of violin—he would teach himself the classical saxophone. Despite being entirely self-taught, Jonathan won 1st Prize in a Concerto-Aria competition at age 17, performing Glazunov’s Saxophone Concerto in E-flat major. He later auditioned and received a full scholarship to attend the UMKC Conservatory of Music, where he studied composition with world-renowned composers Chen Yi and Zhou Long.
As a self-taught conductor, Jonathan was a finalist in the 2022 "Wiener Schule" International Conducting Competition at the Vienna Musikverein, where he won both the Chairman of the Jury Prize and the Academic Festival Orchestra Award. Recognizing his talent as an untrained conductor, Maestro Jin Wang invited Jonathan to study with him in Vienna and serve as his assistant.
Jonathan later won 2nd Prize in the "Vienna New Year's Concert" International Music Competition (December 2022), 1st Prize in the Schubert International Music Competition (April 2023), and the “Second Wiener Schule” Award (July 2023) for his interpretation of works by Arnold Schoenberg and Rainer Bischof in the 2nd Edition of the "Wiener Schule" International Conducting Competition. In the BMI International Conducting Competition (July 2023) with the Bucharest Symphony Orchestra, Jonathan was recognized with the Special Talent Award.
Jonathan has conducted professional orchestras in numerous countries, including Italy, Austria, Spain, Taiwan, Belgium, Romania, and the United States.
He has received additional mentorship from maestros such as Günter Neuhold (Royal Flemish Philharmonic), György G. Ráth (Hungarian State Opera), and Vladimir Kiradjiev (Bulgarian National Opera).
Jonathan currently splits his time between Vienna, Austria and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
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