Cue the Change

To the extent that overnight success is possible in classical music, Jonathon Heyward (BM ’14, cello) achieved it at 23 years old, emerging from working-class roots in Charleston, South Carolina, to claim le grand prix at one of the world’s most prestigious conducting contests. A scant 16 months after graduating from Boston Conservatory with a bachelor’s degree in cello performance, Heyward won the 54th International Competition for Young Conductors in Besançon, France—a prize that led swiftly to professional conducting engagements. 

He had entered the contest as a side quest, he says, just to learn new repertoire and get a bit of experience while working towards his master’s degree in conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Yet he advanced round after round, powered by a charming and contagious energy. Video footage of the finale shows Heyward clearly delighted, counting time with his right hand and using the entire rest of his body—even the bouncing curls of his hair, it seems—to coax expression from the orchestra. 

“The young American seduced technically and emotionally,” according to the jury. But Heyward’s own take on the life-changing performance is both humble and deeply personal. “I don’t know what inspired them to pick me, but what I can say is that I felt the most ‘me’ that I’d ever felt,” he says. “I tapped into what I loved.”

In that final round, Heyward stood out fashion-wise, as well. He was the only person on stage wearing a simple dark suit, running afoul of a dress code that called for white tie and tails. “The competition administrator was like, ‘What do you mean you don’t have tails?’ And I was like, ‘I didn’t think I was going to get here,’” he recalls.

Now a decade past his big win, Heyward serves as music director and conductor at two leading US orchestras, in addition to many guest-conducting jobs throughout Europe and the States. He also has emerged as an agent of change in the classical world, pushing back against the formal trappings of so-called high culture (tails, for instance) and challenging elitist assumptions about who the art form is for. Even Heyward’s fan-given nickname speaks to his relatability: “the Converse Conductor” arose from his fondness for Chuck Taylor sneakers. 

In 2022, Heyward became the first African American ever to lead the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as music director, a historic (if long overdue) moment for a city that has been majority Black for generations. Age 29 at the time, he was the youngest person ever to be appointed music director at any major US symphony orchestra. 

Then in 2024, he was named music director and conductor of the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center in New York City, and a year later earned the additional title of artistic director. His role at Lincoln Center arrived at a pivotal moment, as its longstanding summer festival transitioned away from the moniker “Mostly Mozart,” refashioning itself for a wider audience as “Summer for the City.” 

Two significant changes since Heyward’s arrival at Lincoln Center: The festival orchestra adopted a choose-what-you-pay ticketing structure to make performances accessible to all; and its Symphony of Choice concert has become a new favorite tradition, giving audience members an opportunity to vote for the repertoire they’d like to hear.   

Listening to the audience is every bit as essential to his job as listening to the musicians in the orchestra, says Heyward, who believes that every symphony hall—no matter how prestigious—should have the feel of a community center. 

“You know this idea that classical music is set in a museum of some sort? We can’t do that anymore,” he says. It should be “a place of transfer" instead, for all people “to be fulfilled, to feel a sense of belonging,” he says. “If that’s not happening, you’re not doing the art justice, you’re not doing the community justice, and you should remain curious about how you can change that.”

See the full Spring 2026 issue of Berklee Today.