Christian Jones

Opera North bass and contrabass trombonist Christian Jones began playing at the age of ten, progressing through Staffordshire’s excellent music service before entering London’s Royal Academy of Music in 1998.

Appointed to the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in 2001, aged twenty, Christian was permitted to complete his degree with Bob Hughes and graduated with first class honours in July 2002, a month before joining the Philharmonia Orchestra, London. After a decade of performing worldwide and a year as deputy chairman, he relocated to Yorkshire with wife Katy Jones and their young family in 2012.

Appointed RNCM Bass Trombone Tutor in 2015, Christian also coaches regularly with the Brass Academy and National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. He takes a keen interest in promoting the trombone globally and served as President of the British Trombone Society 2013-15, appearing as the mystery guest on Chris Evans’s BBC Radio 2 breakfast show before 9.8 million listeners! Christian’s YouTube channel currently features over 80 videos covering performances of solo works, technical advice and orchestral and operatic excerpts.

Recent solo appearances include Dublin Brass Week 2015, Arctic Trombone Festival 2016, Glasgow Trombone Week 2017, Hungarian Trombone Bootcamp 2018, and the 2019 Slide Factory (Rotterdam) and Gravissimo Festival (Portugal). He will perform a rescheduled Brubeck concerto after its postponement in June 2020 due to Covid-19 and is currently working with composer Benjamin Ellin on a major new work for bass trombone.