Adrian Jones

Between Orchestras, Institutions and People

For more than three decades, I have worked as both a musician and cultural manager in Berlin, Munich and Dresden. After training and working as a cellist, I began my professional career with an international artists’ agency and later worked within the executive management of a classical music holding before moving into senior positions in orchestral management.

My professional appointments have included leadership roles with some of Germany’s most renowned orchestras, among them the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and the Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

I understand orchestral management as a holistic responsibility: from concert and season coordination to overall artistic planning and strategy, personnel leadership and marketing, as well as the development of an orchestra’s artistic profile and the planning and execution of international concert tours.

Close collaboration with conductors such as Mariss Jansons, Sir Donald Runnicles, Vladimir Jurowski, Myung-Whun Chung, Christian Thielemann and Daniele Gatti has profoundly shaped my understanding of artistic processes, leadership dynamics and institutional structures.

These experiences have given me deep insight into the complex interplay between artistic ambition, organisational structures and human relationships within the professional music world. Since 2024, I have brought this experience together in Adrian Jones Consulting, supporting conductors, soloists, orchestra committees and cultural institutions in matters of artistic profile development, organisational processes and structural development.

Supporting emerging talent is particularly important to me. As a lecturer at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK), I work with young conductors as they prepare to enter the profession, providing practical tools and helping them meet the challenges of the cultural sector with confidence.