Jonathon Cole-Swinard is a British conductor, choral director, and vocal coach. In a career spanning opera, choral, and vocal music he widely recognised for his inspirational training of both professional and amateur singers.
Jonathon is Head of Music at Garsington Opera as well as Music Director of the Alvarez Emerging Artists’ Programme and Chorus Director of the critically acclaimed Garsington Opera Chorus.
From September 2025 he joins the Faculty of Mascarade Opera in Florence as Associate Artistic Director.
He is passionate about the holistic artistic training of young singers, with a special interest in the integration of bel canto vocal technique with a phonetic approach to lyric diction.
Jonathon spent six years on the faculty of the Georg Solti Accedemia in Italy and two years as Artistic Director of the Scottish Opera Young Company. He now works regularly as a visiting vocal coach and conductor at all the UK music colleges.
In demand as a choral director, Jonathon held the Alexander Gibson Choral Conducting Fellowship with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Chorus and spent four years as Chorus Director at Scottish Opera. He is currently the Musical Director of Bucks chamber choir, Wooburn Singers, founded by Richard Hickox.
He studied at Oxford University and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and began his career as Emerging Artist Repetiteur at Scottish Opera. He then joined the music staff at the Staatstheater Nürnberg where he made his conducting debut aged 25.