Jayce Ogren is in his second season as an assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra and as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, having been appointed by Franz Welser-Möst in April 2006. As assistant conductor, Mr. Ogren conducts Education and Family Concerts, Christmas Concerts, portions of Blossom Festival concerts, and serves as cover conductor for Severance Hall and Blossom Festival subscription concerts. Mr. Ogren also helps oversee the editing of archival recordings of concerts and provides assistance to Music Director Franz Welser-Möst.

A native of Hoquiam, Washington, Mr. Ogren previously served as a conducting apprentice with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, working closely with Chief Conductor Alan Gilbert, assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra from 1995 to 1997. Aided by a U.S. Fulbright Grant, Mr. Ogren completed a postgraduate diploma in orchestral conducting at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2006. In Sweden, Mr. Ogren has conducted the orchestras of Gävle, Helsingborg, and Norrköping; the SAMI Sinfonietta; the Swedish National Orchestra Academy; and Stockholm’s Opera Vox. He has also conducted Finland’s Vaasa City Orchestra. In the United States, he has appeared with the New World Symphony, Boston’s Callithumpian Consort, the Harvard Group for New Music, and the New England Conservatory Opera Theater.

Jayce Ogren received a bachelor’s degree in composition from St. Olaf College in 2001 and a master’s degree in conducting from the New England Conservatory in 2003. He has been invited to participate in conducting courses and master classes in both the U.S. and Europe, including two summers at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen. His principal teachers have been Steven Amundson, Jorma Panula, Charles Peltz, and David Zinman. Jayce Ogren is a published composer whose music has been premiered at venues including the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music, the Brevard Music Center, the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, the American Choral Directors Association Conference, and the World Saxophone Congress. His work titled Symphonies of Gaia has been performed by ensembles on three continents and serves as the title track on a DVD featuring the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra.

Devoted to education, Mr. Ogren has worked with student musicians throughout the United States. He was a guest composer/conductor at the 2004 Washington All-State Music Festival. In 2001, the Minnesota Music Educators Association named Jayce Ogren their Composer of the Year.