OUR MUSIC DIRECTOR

Maestro James Blachly

James Blachly, Music Director 

Frank and Sylvia Pasquerilla Chair 

 James Blachly is a Grammy®-winning conductor dedicated to enriching the concert experience by connecting with audiences in memorable and meaningful ways. He serves as Music Director of the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra and of the Experiential Orchestra, and is a versatile guest conductor in diverse repertoire with orchestras including the New York Philharmonic.

Now in his seventh season with the Johnstown Symphony, he has led the orchestra in a period of sustained artistic and organizational growth, national recognition, and broad enthusiasm, and was praised by the Tribune-Democrat saying “James Blachly has been a gift to Johnstown, his passion and imagination a blessing for his Johnstown Symphony Orchestra and our region.” In his effort to “bring the symphony to the city,” during his second season as Music Director, he brought the orchestra to the Cambria Iron Works Machine Shop in a historic concert featured on Katie Couric’s America Inside Out, and in 2021, he conducted the orchestra at the Flight 93 Memorial for the 20th Anniversary of 9/11.  
 
With the Experiential Orchestra, he has conducted the works of Arvo Pärt at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, invited audiences to dance to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, sit within the orchestra at Lincoln Center, and engage with Symphonie fantastique and Petrushka with circus choreography at The Muse in Brooklyn. 
 
Recent guest conducting includes the New York Philharmonic, Williamsburg Symphony, Malaysian Philharmonic, Spokane Symphony, Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, Portland Symphony (ME), Danbury Symphony, and Odyssey Opera (Boston), as well as performances at Trinity Church Wall Street, Roulette, National Sawdust, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center. In 2022, he was one of six conductors to lead the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles at the League of American Orchestras conference.  

In 2022-23, in addition to his 11-concert season in Johnstown, Maestro Blachly will be making his subscription debut with the Detroit Symphony and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, and he will be performing on the subscription series at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. 

 In 2020, Blachly was invited to serve as the Associate Editor and Orchestral Liaison for the African Diaspora Music Project, directed by Dr. Louise Toppin. In that capacity, he has overseen the compilation of a database and website detailing more than 1,300 published works for orchestra by African diaspora composers.  

Dedicated to finding new ways of empowering audiences, Blachly is in demand as a speaker on Listening as Leadership, bringing his expertise as a conductor and passion for music to Fortune 500 companies, schools, and other organizations. He has also conducted dozens of educational concerts for thousands of school children.  

For ten years he conducted workshops and clinics for the New York Philharmonic, served as Ensemble Director for the Baltimore Symphony’s OrchKids program, and conducted clinics and appearances throughout western Pennsylvania for the JSO. From 2010 to 2015, he performed benefit concerts of Mahler symphonies with New York freelancers to launch what is now Make Music NOLA, a thriving El Sistema-Inspired program in New Orleans.  

Also active as a composer, James Blachly studied at Mannes with Robert Cuckson and privately with Charles Wuorinen and John Corigliano. His compositions have been celebrated as “vigorous and assured” by Chamber Music America, and a “splendidly crafted…tour de force” by the Miami Herald, and have been performed at The Stone, Zankel Hall, in Europe and across the U.S., in an audience for the Pope, and broadcast live on the CBC. 

Notes from the Maestro's Desk

Read the article (May 29, 2020) in the Tribune Democrat
”Great opportunities – and Great Music – Come From Great Challenges”
HERE

Read the article (April 4, 2020) in the Tribune Democrat
”Music and a Community Together Despite Distancing”
HERE

Read the article (March 8, 2020) in the Tribune Democrat
”Concert Proves Community Outreach Works”
HERE

Read the article (February 6, 2020) in the Tribune Democrat
”The Beauty and Joy of Music Are Shared Community Assets”
HERE

Read the article (December 9, 2019) in the Tribune Democrat
"Sharing the Gift of Music for the Holidays"
HERE

Read the article (November 4, 2019) in the Tribune Democrat
"Passion Found in Performance of Opera"
HERE

Read the article (October 15, 2019) in the Tribune Democrat
"Long-ago Train Ride Heralded Great Musical Journeys Ahead"
HERE

Read the article (May 28, 2018) in the Tribune Democrat
"JSO Caps Off Historic Year of Accomplishments"
HERE