Informations
Facts
Born in Petersfield, United Kingdom
Member since 01.09.2003
Biography
The eleven-year-old Jonathan Kelly was so excited by a recording of Lothar Koch, former principal oboist of the Berliner Philharmoniker, that he immediately began learning the oboe. Before training to be a professional musician with Celia Nicklin at London’s Royal Academy of Music and with Maurice Bourgue at the Paris Conservatoire, he read history at Cambridge University. In 1993 he became principal oboist of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, to which he belonged until 2003. During his time in Birmingham, Kelly performed regularly with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and appeared as a concerto soloist in Birmingham, Cardiff, Chicago, Helsinki and Vienna.
He was also a member of the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, with whom he gave the premiere of works including Sonata da Caccia by Thomas Adès. In summer 2003 he joined the Berliner Philharmoniker as a principal oboist and since then has also been a member of the Berlin Philharmonic Winds. The former hobby gardener, who with his wife Lucy has three daughters, has recently discovered two new interests: jogging and singing. At the moment he’s learning Mozart’s tenor arias; some day he’d like to venture into the Heldentenor repertoire.
Ensembles of the Berliner Philharmoniker
