Jonathan D. De Vries

CONDUCTOR ~ MUSIC EDUCATOR

​Jonathan De Vries is a conductor, administrator, and music educator in Connecticut and New York City. He is the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Canterbury Choral Society. In the fall of 2019, he began teaching and directing at Greenwich Country Day School, in the first year of their new High School. He is currently the Director of Choirs, Music Director of Productions and Music Technology teacher in the Upper School. Previously he was the Chair of the Music Department at St. Hilda's & St. Hugh's School. Click on the above headings to find out more about his leadership.

​Equally at home with opera, orchestral, choral, and musical theater, Mr. De Vries is a producer, director and conductor. He was the music director for the preparatory summer music theater program, Summer Vocal Institute, held on the campus of the Hartt School of Music for 2010-2011.  In 2012 he was part of the inaugural performance series at SOAR Regional Arts, in Saint Michael, Minnesota.  Some of his favorite past musical theater productions as Music Director include: Beauty and the Beast, Bye Bye Birdie, Fiddler on the Roof, Into the Woods, Iolanthe, Mamma Mia, Mary Poppins, The Mikado, Music Man, Oliver!, School of Rock the Musical, Seussical, Willy Wonka, and The Wizard of Oz.  Mr. De Vries’ ensembles performed at Carnegie Hall three times, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the Apollo Theater, and in concert with the late Pete Seeger.

As a church musician, he was a soloist and Youth Choirs Director at St. Michael's Church NYC from 2000-2016, where he led students on international choir tours and directed four fully staged operas with students playing major roles (Noye's Fludde, Alice in Wonderland, The Little Prince, The Magic Flute). As a singer he worked at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC and toured with professional and collegiate ensembles across the Midwest and West Coast, as well as to England and Europe. 

In July 2015 Mr. De Vries led the youth and adult choirs from St. Michael's Church on a choral tour of France. In July 2017, Mr. De Vries trained at the International Kodály Seminar held at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Kecskemét, Hungary, and he researched Mahler’s life and work in Austria. He has studied conducting with David Xiques, Panni Kovács, James John, Howard Slenk, and Merle Mustert. He holds a MS in Music Education from Queen’s College, CUNY, a BA in Vocal Performance and Conducting from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He also completed training in the Kodály method at NYU Steinhardt Summer Institute. A native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Mr. De Vries lives in Fairfield County, CT with his wife and children.
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