NEWS

July 2025 | Jacob is named Music Director of the Gateway Chamber Orchestra for its 2025-2026 season, an orchestra of leading symphony and recording musicians in Clarksville, Nashville, and Middle Tennessee. 

April 2025 | Density512’s album Rosner: Music for Symphonic Wind Band is released on Toccata Classics to critical acclaim by Gramophone Magazine and more; “the committed advocacy of Density512, a crack new-music ensemble…Well worth investigating”.

Conductor Jacob Aaron Schnitzer brings musical clarity and a theatrical sensibility to symphonic, operatic, and contemporary repertoire. An innovative force in classical music, Schnitzer leads immersive performances that expand the expressive possibilities of the orchestra and captivate audiences.

In the 2026–2027 season, Schnitzer serves as Music Director of the Gateway Chamber Orchestra, where he leads masterworks and family programs with symphony and studio musicians of the Clarksville–Nashville region. He also enters his ninth season as Artistic Director of Density512, a trailblazing chamber orchestra in Austin hailed by Gramophone as a "crack new-music ensemble”. Upcoming guest conducting appearances include the Paducah Symphony and Valley Symphony Orchestras.

Schnitzer recently concluded his tenure as Associate Conductor of The Missouri Symphony, where he led orchestral performances throughout mid-Missouri, including the orchestra's community runout series. He is Director of Orchestral Activities at Austin Peay State University and has previously served on the faculties of Kent State University and the Missouri Youth Symphony.

A recipient of the Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award, Schnitzer studied conducting at the Richard Wagner Bayreuth Festival, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and Domaine Forget de Charlevoix. His collaborations with living composers have resulted in more than 75 world premieres, with recordings appearing on DensitySOUND, Toccata Classics, and an upcoming release on Navona Records.