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HIGHLIGHTS

Artistic Director, Density512
Music Director, Gateway Chamber Orchestra
Associate Conductor, The Missouri Symphony
Director of Orchestral Activities, Austin Peay State University

Conducting Masterclass, Richard Wagner Bayreuth Festival
The Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award

 
 

NEWS

July 2025 | Jacob is named Music Director of the Gateway Chamber Orchestra for its 2025-2026 season. The GCO is composed of leading symphony players, recording musicians, and college faculty from throughout Clarksville, Nashville, and Middle Tennessee. 

March 2025 | KMFA Classical 89.5 and Density512 present Power Up: The Art of Video Game Music. In conjunction with the SXSW Festival, this event combines performances, panel discussions, and hands-on gaming showcases featuring renowned composers and game developers.

March 2025 | Density512’s new album Arnold Rosner: Music for Symphonic Wind Band is released by London record label Toccata Classics. Gramophone magazine praised Density512 as a “crack new-music ensemble… well worth investigating”.


American conductor Jacob Aaron Schnitzer harnesses the powers of music and storytelling to connect with others. His work as a conductor spans symphonic, opera, and contemporary repertoire; his work in immersive concert design offers audiences unforgettable multisensory experiences.

In the 2025–2026 season, Jacob will serve as Music Director of the Gateway Chamber Orchestra which is composed of leading symphony players, recording musicians, and college faculty from throughout Clarksville, Nashville, and Middle Tennessee. He enters his ninth season as Artistic Director of Density512—hailed by Gramophone Magazine as a “crack new-music ensemble”—where he leads bold performances at the intersection of storytelling, design, and contemporary music. He also continues as Associate Conductor of The Missouri Symphony. Jacob studied conducting at the prestigious Richard Wagner Bayreuth Festival and is a recipient of The Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award.

A passionate educator, he is Director of Orchestral Activities at Austin Peay State University and previously served as Interim Director of Orchestra at Kent State University and Teaching Artist at The Missouri Symphony Conservatory.

Jacob’s commitment to collaborating with living composers has led world premieres of 70 works in opera, symphonic, ballet, avant-garde, film, and video game music. His recordings of contemporary music can be heard on Density512’s in-house label DensitySOUND and Toccata Classics.

Jacob participated in masterclasses with notable conductors Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Simone Young, Semyon Bychkov, and Pablo Heras-Casado. His principal teachers include conductors Kevin Noe, Bramwell Tovey, Joshua Gersen, and Peter Bay. He holds degrees from the UMKC Conservatory, Boston University, and The University of Texas at Austin.

When not dreaming of ways to change the world, Jacob hikes, cooks, meditates, reads, and sings to his orange tabby cats.       

Schnitzer is animated and athletic and gets a lot out of his musicians. Their performance of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony brought a standing ovation.
— Kent Ravenna Record-Courier
...a groundbreaking collaboration... masterfully performed by Density512’s chamber orchestra under the baton of Jacob Schnitzer.
— KMFA Classical 89.5, Top Twelve Classical Highlights of 2024

Photos by Jack Kloecker

For Schnitzer, conducting... is akin to directing a theatrical performance.
— Sightlines Magazine
 
 

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