JEFFREY MEANS
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BIOGRAPHY
Jeffrey Means is an American conductor with a special interest in modern and contemporary repertoire. Well-noted for his exacting interpretations of even the most demanding scores, Means has spent the last 15+ years leading concerts of landmark 20th and 21st Century works throughout the US, EU and elsewhere in the world.
Based in Boston, Means has frequently conducted many of the new music ensembles in Boston and New York. Among them are the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Talea Ensemble, Switch Ensemble, Da Capo Chamber Players, Dinosaur Annex, Mimesis Ensemble Firebird Ensemble, Ludovico Ensemble, Guerilla Opera, and many others. Means is the conductor and artistic director of Sound Icon, whose performances have been named among the best of the year multiple times by the Boston Globe. He has worked with many of the preeminent composers of our time, including Hans Abrahamsen, Pierluigi Billone, Chaya Czernowin, Georg Friedrich Haas, Helmut Lachenmann, Liza Lim, Tristan Murail, Steve Reich, Roger Reynolds, Salvatore Sciarrino, Steven Takasugi, Jennifer Walshe, and numerous others. In many cases, Means has led US or world premieres of major works by these composers.
Conducting engagements with ensembles or music festivals have taken Means to Canada, Argentina, France, Switzerland, Finland, Australia, Italy and across the US. Highlights of the upcoming 2025/26 season include conducting on the Boulez centenary concert in Helsinki, and conducting concerts and directing the percussion ensemble at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM).
Means was assistant conductor of Spoleto Festival USA from 2016 through 2018, and of the Lucerne Festival Academy in 2016 and 2017. In these positions, he assisted Alan Gilbert, Susanna Mälkki, Matthias Pintscher, John Kennedy, Heinz Hollinger, and others. In 2009, he was one of two conductors selected to study with Pierre Boulez at the Lucerne Festival Academy, which he participated in an additional time in 2011. He has since maintained a close relationship with Boulez's music, having conducting most of his ensemble works.
Means remains an active percussionist. Prior to becoming a conductor, he maintained a robust playing schedule with orchestras and ensembles in and around Boston. He has performed much of the standard chamber repertoire for percussion, including most of the significant works for percussion trio with his friends and colleagues Mike Williams (www.guerillaopera.org/leadership) and Nicholas Tolle (www.nicholastolle.com). As a percussionist, Means has worked with many key composers of the American avant-garde, including Alvin Lucier, Frederick Rzewski, Christian Wolff, and John Zorn. He was a percussion fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center prior to pursing a Master's Degree.
Jeffrey is an ardent educator. He is a professor of conducting at the Berklee College of Music, and has guest conducted at New England Conservatory and Boston University. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in percussion (awarded with distinction in performance) and an Master's Degree in conducting from New England Conservatory. At NEC, he received the Gunther Schuller Medal (awarded to one outstanding graduate student annually), the Toujée Alumni Award, and the John Cage Award.