Madison Symphony Names Laura Jackson as New Director

16 July 2026

Laura Jackson, conductor of the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra in Nevada, has been selected to lead the Madison Symphony Orchestra.

Jackson has led the Reno Phil since 2009. She intends to stay on there, having signed a contract through the 2028-29 season, in addition to her work in Madison.

“The reality is it’s more common than not for conductors today to have more than one music directorship,” said Jackson, who has a home base in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where her husband is a musicologist. “The Madison Symphony and the Reno Philharmonic work beautifully in complement to each other.”

As one of eight finalists, Jackson conducted the MSO in April on a program featuring the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. She will return to conduct this coming season as music director designate in November for a program of Carlos Simon, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky, and again in May 2027.

According to a news release, she will assume the title of MSO music director full-time in 2027-28, starting with a five-year contract.

“What I love the most about the work that I do as a conductor is investing in communities,” Jackson said. “Madison is going to find that I am 110% invested in that part of the job. I am not just flying in to do concerts and wave my arms around and leave.”

Symphony succession plan
In June, John DeMain retired as artistic director of the Madison Symphony Orchestra after 32 years. He will continue to lead the MSO on a case-by-case basis.

Robert Reed, executive director of the MSO, will work closely with Jackson to run the organization, which has a budget of about $6 million and runs eight subscription concert weekends a year.

“We’re excited about what a new person is going to bring,” Reed said. “She can take the orchestra to yet another new level — we’re excited about that.”

According to her biography, Jackson studied violin and conducting at Indiana University, earned a DMA and master’s in orchestral conducting at the University of Michigan, and from 2004-2007 she “served as the first female assistant conductor/ League of American Orchestras Conducting Fellow of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.”

The Reno Philharmonic consists of about 60 professional part-time musicians. Jackson’s bio notes that under her leadership, the Reno Phil “expanded its community and education programs” with live-streamed concerts, four youth orchestras and popular movies accompanied by a live orchestra.

(The MSO has been doing this, too; the upcoming season includes a live orchestra with “The Lion King” on Sept. 20 and “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” in May 2027).

Jackson led an event called “Play and Sing for a Day,” her bio says, “in which amateur community musicians perform side-by-side in concert with Reno Phil professionals.”

Parity on the podium
Reed noted that for a woman to lead an orchestra at the highest level is still rare. According to a League of American Orchestras report in 2023, only one in nine music directors is a woman. A study by the Donne Foundation in 2024 showed that 10.1% of orchestras worldwide were led by women.

“The reality of my daily life is I wake up in the morning and I study my scores and I go and I conduct and I try to be the best artist that I can,” Jackson said. “I am fortunate that there were predecessors who came before me that did the hardest level of work. … I also take it very seriously that part of my role is to make it easier for the next group of women that come up.”

Jackson said she’s glad not to have been the first woman on the podium in front of the Madison Symphony Orchestra (a first she’s experienced many times in her career). She also knows change for an organization that has had the same leadership for decades can be “scary,” and she takes the responsibility “very, very seriously.”

“I am really happy to answer questions when people have them,” Jackson said. “I understand that for a lot of audience members, they haven’t seen very many women on the podium. That’s OK.”

Madison Symphony’s season starts with a one-off opening night on Sept. 18 led by maestro DeMain. It will feature Joshua Bell playing Édouard Lalo’s “Symphonie espagnole” and Jules Massenet’s “Méditation” from “Thaïs” on a program that also includes “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and “Boléro.”

“I am going to do everything I possibly can to make this a really positive and exciting next chapter,” Jackson said. “To win a position as a music director, that’s just incredibly hard to do. For me to win (a position) at such an extraordinary regional orchestra as Madison is, it’s a dream come true.

“I honestly cannot wait to get started.”