The Conservatoire International Concert Series was established by Alistair Jones in 2012 as a continuation of his long career in music, both as a performer, composer and conductor.

About Alistair Jones

Alistair has long associations with music in the UK. Initially at school in Ealing he went on to the Royal Academy of Music and completed his musical education as organ scholar of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, when, as an organ student of Sir David Willcocks he gave the first UK performance of “Le Chemin de la Croix” by Marcel Dupré in King’s College Chapel.  He then taught for 15 years, including at Wellington College and as Director of Music at Bristol Cathedral School, where he also conducted the Bristol Bach Choir and Bristol Intimate Opera. 

He moved on from teaching in the 1980s and worked for Yamaha on their various education programmes until his retirement. Throughout his musical life, music education and encouraging young musicians has been a focus of much of what he has done.  In his farewell concert with the Chiswick Orchestra in May, two of his previous protégés gave memorable performances of Weber’s Clarinet Concerto No 2 and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 4. He also gave a stunning young 12-year old pianist, Harvey Lin, his first opportunity of playing with a symphony orchestra in Beethoven’s 1st Piano Concerto. A most memorable first perfomance. The donations from these concerts created the financial foundation for the Conservatoire Concerts at South Hill Park in Bracknell - organised by Alistair -  showcasing the talents of up and coming young musicians.

Amongst Alistair's many talents is music composition and arranging. On many occasions he has provided choral and orchestral arrangements of songs and he is guilty of composing mobile ringtones. Alistair admits he is a lazy composer, but his catalogue of compositions includes 4 large choral works he wrote for The Chiswick Choir, during his 31 years as Musical Director. The 4 Song cycles include “The Year’s Awakening” to poems by Hardy and 5 Holy Sonnets of John Donne for tenor and Piano Quintet and “Fables”, settings of Aesop.  Recent chamber and instrumental works include Sonatas for Viola and Violin, a Piano Quartet and Piano Trio.  His days at Wellington College and Bristol Cathedral School brought forth incidental music for drama productions including organ music for “Murder in the Cathedral”, and music for Shakespeare’s “As you like it” and “Hamlet”.