Australian conductor Benjamin Northey is flying to America, where he is set to conduct the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Jazz at Lincoln Centre Orchestra in a one-night-only performance of Wynton Marsalis’s All Rise on 9 May.

Benjamin Northey. Photo © Stefanie Zingsheim/Sydney Conservatorium of Music

At Pittsburgh’s Heinz Hall, Northey will lead the Marsalis work for a second time after leading the work in a 2023 performance with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Northey also led the MSO on its 2019 US tour.

The opportunity comes at a rich time few years for Australian conductors looking abroad: in 2026, Leonard Weiss became the first Australian to conduct the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a subscription concert, and in 2024, Simone Young became the first Australian and woman to conduct the Ring Cycle at the Bayreuth Festival.

Originally trained as a classical saxophonist, Northey is currently the Chief Conductor of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Conductor-in-Residence of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. In 2025, he was appointed as the Sydney Conservatorium of Music’s inaugural Professor of Conducting. He has conducted leading...