Jacobus De Jager
Semi-finalist of the Conducting Competition 2025-2026
Biography
Jacobus de Jager is a South African conductor and Junior Fellow in Conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music and a Royal Philharmonic Society Conducting Fellow. He will appear this year in the Mahler Competition and is one of four conductors selected for the Lucerne Festival’s Contemporary Conducting Programme. He has conducted orchestras across Europe and South Africa and was a semi-finalist in the Herbert von Karajan Young Conductors Award. He completed his master’s in conducting at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he was awarded the RCS Conducting Prize.
COMPETITION PROGRAMME
First Round - Haute École de Musique de Genève Orchestra
- L.v. Beethoven: Symphony No. 2
- F. Schubert: Symphony No. 5
Second Round - Orchestre de Chambre de Genève
- I. Stravinsky: Danses concertantes
- P.I. Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings
- R. Wagner: Siegfried Idyll
Semi-Final 1 - Orchestre de Chambre de Genève
- G. Bizet: Symphony in C
- L. Farrenc: Symphony No. 3
- F. Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 « Scottish »
Semi-Final 2 - Ensemble Contrechamps
- Ligeti: Kammerkonzert
- U. Chin: Gougalon
Semi-Final 3 - Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
- C. Debussy: La Mer
- R. Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 (1st movement)
- R. Schumann: Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129 (1st movement)
Final Round 1 - Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
- 3 finalist works from the Composition Competition
Final Round 2 - Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
- R. Strauss: Don Juan
- G. Mahler: Totenfeier
Events
The six semi-finalists of the Conducting Competition each lead a 45-minute public rehearsal with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, working on excerpts from Debussy’s La Mer and the first movement of either Schumann’s Piano Concerto or Cello Concerto, assigned by draw at the beginning of the round.
Session 1: 2:30 PM
Session 2: 7:30 PM
Semi-Finalists:
Soloists:
Kevin Chen (1st Prize, Piano 2022)
Michiaki Ueno (1st Prize, Cello 2021)
With the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
The six semi-finalists of the Conducting Competition each have a 45-minute public rehearsal with Ensemble Contrechamps, working on excerpts from Ligeti’s Kammerkonzert and a contemporary work of their choice: Unsuk Chin’s Gougalon or Rebecca Saunders’ Scar.
Session 1: 2:30 PM
Session 2: 7:30 PM
Semi-Finalists:
With the Ensemble Contrechamps
The six semi-finalists of the Conducting Competition each have a 45-minute public rehearsal with the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, conducting excerpts from symphonies by Bizet, Farrenc and Mendelssohn, assigned by draw at the beginning of the round.
Session 1: 2:30 PM
Session 2: 7:30 PM
Semi-Finalists:
With the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève