BSO Concertmaster Jonathan Carney is in his 21st season with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, after 12 seasons in the same position with London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Born in New Jersey, Mr. Carney hails from a musical family with all six members having graduated from The Juilliard School. After completing his studies with Ivan Galamian and Christine Dethier, he was awarded a Leverhulme Fellowship to continue his studies in London at the Royal College of Music.

After enjoying critically acclaimed international tours as both concertmaster and soloist with numerous ensembles, Mr. Carney was invited by Vladimir Ashkenazy to become concertmaster of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1991. He was also appointed concertmaster of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in 1994 and the Basque National Orchestra in 1996. Recent solo performances have included concertos by Bruch, Korngold, Khatchaturian, Sibelius, Nielsen, the Brahms Double Concerto and Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, which was featured as a live BBC broadcast from London’s Barbican Hall. He has made a number of recordings, including concertos by Mozart, Vivaldi and Nielsen, sonatas by Brahms, Beethoven and Franck, and a disc of virtuoso works of by Sarasate and Kreisler with his mother Gloria Carney as pianist. New releases include Beethoven’s Archduke and Ghost trios, the cello quintet of Schubert and a Dvorak disc with the Terzetto and four Romantic pieces for violin.

Mr. Carney is passionate about music education and currently serves as Artistic Director for the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras.

Jonathan is presently on the faculty of the Brevard Music Center, an intensive seven-week summer music festival in the mountains of western North Carolina.  Jonathan is also a concertmaster with the Colorado Music Festival, which takes place in Boulder each summer with maestro Peter Oundjian.

As a sought after clinician he also gives master classes throughout the United States and abroad. Mr. Carney is currently a frequent guest concertmaster with The Seoul Philharmonic, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the NSO of Taiwan and the Malaysian Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Carney performs on a 1687 Stradivarius, the Mercur-Avery, on which he uses “Vision” strings by Thomastik-Infeld. Mr. Carney’s string sponsor is Connolly & Co., exclusive U.S. importer of Thomastik-Infeld strings. Mr. Carney’s Stradivarius sponsors are Neil and Sayra Meyerhoff, whose generous gifts underwrite the annual insurance premiums associated with this fine instrument.