Jack Symonds is a composer, conductor and pianist, and Artistic Director of Sydney Chamber Opera. He has conducted the Australian premieres of major stage works by Dusapin, Kurtág, Benjamin, Romitelli, Kancheli and Britten and world premieres of operas by Gyger, Smetanin and Finsterer. His music has been played by the Australian Chamber Orchestra, JACK Quartet, Composers Ensemble, Australia Piano Quartet, Streeton Trio, Timo-Veikko Valve among others, and he has written three stage works for Sydney Chamber Opera, including Notes from Underground. He studied composition at the Royal College of Music, London under Kenneth Hesketh, and gained the university medal from the Sydney Conservatorium.