Teenage years
Hailing from Teesside in North East England, Jonathan Ross Parkin has established himself as a sensitive and versatile musician of the highest quality.
Jonathan’s musical journey began at 11 when, after an uninspiring saxophone lesson he tagged along to a friends guitar class. From then on, a love for music was born and Jonathan spent his teenage years playing in rock bands in the pubs and clubs of North East England.
At the age of 17 Jonathan’s curiosity had taken him to the classical guitar where he relished the technical and musical challenges it posed. He taught himself how to read music and within one year of study with the instrumentalist and conductor John Forsyth MBE, Jonathan had earned a place at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama studying with John Mills, Graham Anthony Devine, Elefethria Kotzia, Helen Sanderson and Stephen Gordon, where he graduated in 2015 with first class honors. While in Cardiff, Jonathan had the opportunity to study in Jyväskylä, Finland, with the eminent composer Kai Nieminen, a truly unique and formative musical experience.
Progression and Prizes
Jonathan’s rapid musical progression continued in London at The Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, as he studied for a Masters Degree in Performance with Graham Anthony Devine. While in London he began to build his profile as a performer, performing in prestigious venues such as Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, The Barbican and Saint James’ Piccadilly and for festivals such as The IGF London Guitar Festival, The Greenwich Early Music Festival and Greenwich Guitar Festival as well as performing as a soloist with the Cobweb Orchestra and Teesside Symphony Orchestra.
After graduating his Masters degree in 2017 with Distinction, Jonathan moved to Spain and in recent years his sensitive and virtuosic playing has brought him international praise at the very highest level. He has been a prize winner and finalist at some of the most prestigious international guitar competitions including Certamen Llobet (2nd Prize, Public Prize 2018 & Llobet Prize 2020) London International Guitar Competition (2nd Prize 2020), Concurso International Raimundo (1st Prize 2018), Ivor Mariants award (3rd Prize 2017), XXVI Concurso de la Guitarra ‘Cuidad de Linares’ Andres Segovia (Finalist 2019), Madrid International Guitar Competition (Finalist 2020), Nuertingen International Guitar Competition (Finalist 2020), Dutch Guitar Foundation Competition (Finalist 2021).
Jonathan has also been supported by numerous scholarships such as The Leverhulme Trust, The Joan Greenfield Trust, The Countess of Munster Musical Trust, The Peter Chase Award and Help Musician’s Postgraduate Award. Since moving to Spain, Jonathan has had the opportunity to perform at prestigious venues such as Palau Les Arts (Valencia), L’Auditori (Barcelona) and Museo de Bellas Artes (Madrid) as well as as for festivals such as the Rodrigo Festival, Festival Fortea and Semana Tárrega.
Chamber music and current projects
Jonathan ceaseless curiosity of different sound combinations with the guitar and his interest in music from all over the globe has led him to become a passionate advocate of chamber music. In 2019, alongside Spanish cellist Alberto Vicente Muñoz, Jonathan founded the celebrated ZK Duo and in London, Jonathan was a member of both What Guitar Trio and The Choros. The latter, a group of musicians from the Royal College of Music, dedicated to playing Brazilian Choro music and the former, a classical guitar trio specializing in contemporary music, which was a participant of the prestigious IGF Young Artist Platform 2017.
Jonathan’s curiosity and his work as a chamber musician and soloist has given him the opportunity to give premiere performances of music by some of the worlds finest living composers. Through his work with What Guitar Trio, Jonathan had the opportunity to give international and national premieres of music and arrangements by Gerald Barry, Piyawat Louilarpprasert, Beat Furrer and Graham Lynch and as a soloist he has commissioned and premiered works by composers such as Philip Cashian, Juan Erena, Dr Robert Spearing, Inés Badado, Micheal Anthony Hughes, Ben Lunn, Alex Corlett and Fintan O’hare.
Currently based in Valencia, Jonathan is a professor at both the Escuela Superior de Música Alto Rendimiento (ESMAR) and at the Conservatorio Professional Ignacio Monzonís. He combines his teaching activity with solo and chamber recitals throughout Europe with his role as Guitar Coordinator at the Institute of Musical Development (IDM) for festivals such as Semana Tárrega and Festival Fortea. Jonathan plays a Daniele Chiesa 2017 guitar.