Associate Conductor

Australian conductor Jen Winley was appointed West Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO)’s inaugural Associate Conductor in 2024, after holding the Assistant Conductor position since 2022. An accomplished percussionist and timpanist, Jen has previously appeared in regular performance with WASO, as well as with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Victoria. She returned to MSO in 2024 for her first conducting appearance with the orchestra.

Jen made her professional conducting debut in 2020 while participating in WASO’s Emerging Conductors program. She went on to lead the orchestra in a wide variety of performances, including subscription mainstage concerts, Family, Education and Community Engagement projects, regional tours, films in concert, and contemporary and recording projects. Highlights from her cross-genre projects include conducting WASO in Home Alone in Concert and the world premiere performances of Drapht and WASO: How the West Was Won; a collaboration with Perth hip-hop artist Drapht that culminated in the Orchestra’s first music videos.

Jen recently became a member of an exclusive group of conductors around the world who are approved to conduct Disney in Concert events, going on to conduct WASO in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Frozen, and Toy Story in Concert. She made a further company debut with West Australian Opera (WAO) as Music Director for Sondheim’s Into the Woods (2023).

Jen is highly focused on innovative programming development for educational and family concerts and has frequently collaborated with acclaimed UK animateur Paul Rissman, most recently conducting the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in Sounds Like an Orchestra. She has played a key role in in developing several shows in this genre for WASO. Jen spent several years as a classroom educator and continues to enjoy working with young people. She currently oversees the WASO Conducting Fellowship Program, has conducted the Western Australian Youth Orchestra since 2019, and makes her debut with the Melbourne Youth Orchestra in 2025.

She will conduct Symphony on the Waterfront in 2025 in her first appearance with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and returns to WAO as Assistant Conductor for their season of Verdi’s Il trovatore.

Jen Winley is supported by the Simon Lee Foundation and the JACE Foundation.