Jaime Martín

Conductor

Chief Conductor, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (from 2022)
Principal Guest Conductor, Spanish National Orchestra (from 2022/23)
Music Director, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra
Chief Conductor, National Symphony Orchestra, Ireland

Biography

Chief Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony 0rchestra since 2022, Jaime Martín is also Chief Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra (Ireland) and Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. He is the Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España (Spanish National Orchestra) for the 22/23 season and was Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of Gävle Symphony Orchestra from 2013 to 2022.

Having spent many years as a highly regarded flautist, working with the most inspiring conductors of our time, Jaime turned to conducting full-time in 2013 and has become very quickly sought after at the highest level.  Recent and future engagements include his debuts with the Dresden, Netherlands Philharmonic and Dallas Symphony Orchestras, and return visits to the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony, Antwerp Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica y Coro de RTVE (ORTVE) and Galicia Symphony orchestras, as well as a nine-city European tour with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

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Recent News

Jaime Martín Debuts with the Dallas Symphony and Dresden Philharmonic

Dynamic Spanish conductor Jaime Martín makes his debut performances in the coming weeks with two distinguished orchestras on either side of the Atlantic. This week, he conducts the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in an all-Hungarian programme ranging from Franz Liszt to the...

The 2023 BBC Proms are Announced!

The 2023 BBC Proms, “the world’s greatest classical music festival”, return with 71 concerts throughout the UK from 14 July through The Last Night of the Proms celebration, featuring cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, on 9 September. Conductors Semyon Bychkov, Vladimir...

Jaime Martín Honoured to Receive Spanish National Music Award 2022

The jury of the Premios Nacionales de Música 2022 has awarded conductor Jaime Martín, in the Interpretation category, for his contributions to classical music. The prize, awarded annually by the Ministry of Culture and Sport, includes 30,000 euros. The jury awarded...

Reviews

“Conductor Jaime Martín demonstrated his affinity for Brahms in a performance of the Second Symphony that exuded warmth, grace and muscularity, the BBCNOW horn section shining again. Martín brought the same sensibilities to Parry’s Elegy for Brahms, resolutely faithful to that composer’s style and memory.”

Inkl

“Martín, conducting without a baton, provided spark with gestures truly his own – a burst with the fingers, a nod, a point, a punch, a series of shrugs. I’ve always thought the best conductors have the quirkiest gestures because their dance is for the musicians making the music, and only secondarily for the audience – it seems to me to be the case here. In all, it was a satisfying evening of exquisite music-making.”
Laurie Niles

Violinist

“Guest conductor Jaime Martín coaxed terrific sounds out of the orchestra—richly shaped phrases in the opening passages that were thoughtful without being fussy, and tight ensemble in the later rip-roaringly fast sections.”

J. Robin Coffelt

Texas Classical Review

More Reviews

“Martín expertly teases out the orchestral textures, allowing us to appreciate the subtlety of Brahms’s string- and woodwind-writing in Nänie and Schicksalslied, and his striking deployment of the brass in Begräbnisgesang. The choral singing, meanwhile, is exceptional in its control and balance, the counterpoint wonderfully clear and vivid, even in the most complex polyphony.

Martín is often at his best when Brahms is at his most severe. Gesang der Parzen really hits home with its measured, oppressive tread and finely controlled dynamic shading. Begräbnisgesang, taken faster than usual, is similarly relentless, rivalling John Eliot Gardiner’s version (SDG, 10/08) in its fierce austerity.”

Tim Ashley, Gramophone

“A late stand-in, the conductor Jaime Martín had done an impressively quick study of the score. Controlling his forces with aplomb, he also wittily changed the programme to include Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony, mixing elegance and grace with rugged, Ossianic drama. The final pages blazed majestically. […] Martín’s detailed performance took on heady swagger, and his infectious enjoyment of the music communicated to the orchestra and audience alike.”

John Allison, The Telegraph

“Our attention was especially caught by the conductor Jaime Martín. With his extraordinary musicality and mature and suggestive interpretation, he pleased our public offering a much more genuine music enjoyment than many of his much more famous colleagues.”

Borut Smrekar, Delo

“Jaime Martín leads choir and orchestra displaying great sensibility for this exceedingly beautiful music. There is both tenderness and no small measure of intense dramatic soulfulness when called for, and the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir contributes with admirably supple, nuanced and transparent choral singing. Choir and orchestra is always a challenge for all record producers, but here they have achieved a near enough perfect balance. All in all; a wonderful record, and as a bonus you get the unusual Begräbnisgesang and the Liebeslieder Walzer, so popular during Brahms own life.”

Axel Lindhe
OPUS Magasin

“It was in the Brahms Serenade that Martín showed what he could really do — producing a flowing, swaying rhythm in the first scherzo and rugged power in the Beethovenian scherzo, coaxing lovely phrasing from the winds in the fourth movement, sometimes letting the baton dangle from his left hand (a throwback to Bernstein) as he shaped the music with his right. And the orchestra’s playing grew sharper and more responsive the further it went into the piece.”

Richard S. Ginell Oct 1st 2017

“You know within seconds that this release is going to be good: droning string fifths introducing the catchiest of horn solos, the tune echoed in some style by a winningly perky clarinet. This is Premier League playing, and discovering that it’s from an orchestra you’ve never heard of adds to the pleasure. Brahms’s two Serenades are terrific pieces and don’t get heard anything like as often as they deserve. Happily, both are on this disc, wonderfully performed by Sweden’s Gåvle Symphony Orchestra under Spanish flautist-turned-conductor Jaime Martín.”

Apr 1st 2017

“The beautiful result was thanks to conscientious conducting by Jaime Martín, with whom [Daniel] Hope demonstrated a perfect and palpable harmony, and the excellent response of an orchestra solidly integrated in the soloist’s phrasing.”

“The capacity of communication and concentration of the Cantabrian conductor was particularly evident in the second half: in the contrasts and dramatic relief that is Beethoven’s Seventh.”

“A visionary conductor, discerning and meticulous in the handling of the setup opened an impacting first movement, followed by an Allegretto which was fittingly sombre and luminous in each of the movement’s openings.”

“Martin’s detailed insight of the score transferred effectively to the music and could only be crowned with an outstanding encore: Sibelius’s Valse Triste.

Diego A. Civilotti Feb 11th 2017

“The other surprise comes from Jaime Martín, effective leader whose precise but never exaggerated beating reminds of the fluidity and clarity values that were long those of Neville Marriner at the head of these musicians. The very silhouette of the Spanish conductor, soberly encamped and without gestural overflowing, participates in this same atmosphere of music of very high level but without theatricality or excessive roughness: a comfort a little past fashion today but still quite pleasant.”

Laurent Barthel Dec 17th 2016  

“This, the second programme conducted by Jaime Martin, was one of high contrast, and it revealed, above everything else, that he is a conductor of real musical and communication skills. To move from the serene, atmospheric modality, of Vaughan Williams’ sublime The Lark Ascending, through the distinctive sound world of 1950s William Walton and on to the most famous “modern” work of them all – The Rite of Spring – was impressive. But to do so with a superb grasp of the essence of each of the works, and then to draw playing of the highest class from the NZSO, marked him out as a rare talent – he must return. The concert opened with Vaughan Wiiliam’s almost visual evocation of a bird in flight, played with astonishing control by Vesa-Matti Leppanen , partnered by some beautiful playing from the orchestra – how ravishing were the string pianissimos. The Walton Cello Concerto is the third of his string concertos and is probably the least interesting of the three. But it is full of Walton’s distinctive fingerprints and Swedish cellist Jakob Koranyi played it beautifully. Again the orchestral support was superbly managed. The premiere of Stravinsky’s ‘The Rite of Spring’ is almost as famous as the work itself. The riot in the auditorium overshadowed the music and the dancers, but it established the work as the pinnacle of chaotic modernism. The original musicians had trouble with score, but time has seen almost any decent orchestra able to handle its demands, but a really hair raising performance is rare. Somehow conductor Martin, who was clearly inside every detail , clearly comfortable with every rhythmic shift, conscious of the unusual instrumental writing and extremely dramatic in his approach, was able to hint at the shock of 29th May 1913. Few performances – and none I have heard – have managed to achieve this. A great concert.”

John Button 

“Martin, who has a good rapport with this orchestra, skillfully engineered the ever-shifting tempo changes in the Milhaud, and he moved the Ives symphony with assured pacing and delicate color”

Michael Anthony 

“The evening’s conductor was Spain’s Jaime Martin, who, having spent much time in the ranks as a flautist, knows exactly what it takes to energise musicians. From the dramas of Eroica’s opening two movements – the second, which is a slow funeral march, was particularly excellent with great depth of tone and feeling – to the scherzo and the allegro in its concluding two, Martin brought out all of the conflicts and moods in fine fashion “

Rob Barnes 

“I’ve already sung the praises of flautist-turned-conductor Jaime Martín in his Tritó coupling devoted to Catalan composers Juli Garreta and Eduardo Toldrà (4/13), and now find much to like in his recording of Schubert’s Great C major Symphony. Not only is he laudably attentive to the spirit and text of this mighty edifice (unless I’m mistaken, every repeat is observed), he draws some highly personable, beautifully blended and exquisitely turned playing from the Orquestra de Cadaqués (founded in 1988 for the eponymous music festival). Martín’s pacing is spot-on, his approach admirably unmannered. He also possesses a keen ear and is judicious in matters of balance (I particularly enjoyed the trombones’ tasteful contribution throughout), and the whole performance radiates a nourishing sense of proportion, dedication and grace that are very endearing (the Trio section has a gentle swing and delicious poise about it that cannot fail to lift the spirits). Collectors weaned on old-school masters such as Toscanini (especially his blisteringly eloquent 1941 Philadelphia account), Mengelberg, Walter, Furtwängler, Konwitschny, Munch, Szell, Boult, Krips, Kubelík, Wand and Haitink may find it all a wee bit polite (I’m thinking in particular of the seismic climax of the slow movement), but I for one am happy to have made this lithe and fresh-faced newcomer’s acquaintance. Glowingly engineered in the Auditorio de Zaragoza (which evidently boasts a very kind acoustic), this strikes me as well worth hunting down.”

Andrew Achenbach 

“A late stand-in, the conductor Jaime Martín had done an impressively quick study of the score. Controlling his forces with aplomb, he also wittily changed the programme to include Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony, mixing elegance and grace with rugged, Ossianic drama. The final pages blazed majestically. […] Martín’s detailed performance took on heady swagger, and his infectious enjoyment of the music communicated to the orchestra and audience alike.”

John Allison

“With the withdrawal of Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Jaime Martín was called in to bat. No stranger to London as a musician, whether as a flautist with the London Philharmonic or as a guest-conductor at English National Opera and Guildhall School, Martín currently holds positions with the Gävle Symphony Orchestra and Orquestra de Cadaqués. His rise through the conducting ranks has been meteoric. Not surprising really for this concert as a short-notice replacement was a great success for him. In Kodály’s Dances of Galánta Martín cut a commanding figure and led an account of the music that was zesty, aflame and alluring – and expansive and gentle where it needed to be – further distinguished by Katy Woolley’s horn solos and Mark van de Wiel’s on clarinet. […] The concert’s second half was to have been a selection from Prokofiev’s ballet music for Romeo and Juliet. Instead, Mendelssohn’s ‘Scottish’ Symphony found Martín leading it from the inside, the slow introduction immediately strong, atmospheric and soulfully expressive. In terms of tempos, clarity and chamber-like interaction, the demonstrative yet lucid Martín got a wonderful response from the Philharmonia Orchestra, and he ensured that the horns and trumpets were nicely embedded into the textures (when horns and oboes share material, you always heard the latter). It was no hardship to have the first-movement exposition repeated, for it was full of incident and thoughtful dynamic variation, the music living and breathing in the most suggestive way. Martín judged each attacca ideally, the scherzo scintillatingly quick without blurring, the slow movement full of feeling and emotionally burdened, and the finale was lively and keen. Come the mists, Martín lingered awhile, quite impressionistic, before the apotheosis joyfully brought the curtain down on an absorbing and impressive performance.”

Colin Anderson 

“Conductor Jaime Martin, once a gifted flautist, led the orchestra naturally. That he, as a wind player, has a special flair for phrasing revealed itself in Haydn’s Symphony No. 95 in C minor. The “Andante Cantabile” in particular succeeded with its wide breathing and distinct phrasing, a peculiarity of Martin’s, which bestowed a surprising grace on the great contrasts in Haydn’s Symphony. “

Sibylle Ehrismann