Jon studied at Cambridge University, the London College of Music and Dartington College and is based near Bristol. He’s the winner of the Best Use Of Sound award at the 2022 BBC Audio Drama Awards, and was nominated again for the same award in 2023; he was also nominated for Best Sound Design at the 2023 Audio Production Awards. The Radio 4 documentary series In Dark Corners, which he sound designed and mixed, won Gold for Best Factual Series at the 2023 ARIAs and Radio Programme Of The Year at the 2023 British Press Guild Awards.
Currently available / upcoming:
Dark With Excessive Bright (Royal Opera House: Linbury Studio)
New multi-episode full-cast series in Dolby Atmos with Audible
New multi-episode full-cast drama series in Dolby Atmos with Audiama
New 60’’ and 90’’ audio dramas for Radio 3 and Radio 4
Spores (BBC Sounds Limelight |5 x 45’’| dir. Nicolas Jackson)
In Dark Corners (BBC Radio 4 |2 x 28’’| prod. Caitlin Smith)
2022 ARIAs: Gold - Best Factual Series
2022 British Press Guild Awards: Radio Programme Of The Year
Username: Resurgent (Audible | 10 x 28’’ |prod. Simon Barnard)
The Baker Street Four (Audible | 9 x 20’’, dir. Celia De Wolff)
Vergil: A Mythological Musical! (Audible | 8 x 50’’ | dir. Polly Thomas)
Rare Earth (BBC Radio 4 |60’’| dir. Nicolas Jackson)
Drama on 3: Reykjavik (BBC Radio 3|90’’ dir. Nicolas Jackson)
Drama on 3: Venice Preserv’d (BBC Radio 3|90’’ dir. Gaynor MacFarlane)
Our Friends In The North (BBC Radio 4 | 10 x 45’’|dir. Melanie Harries)
Lost At Sea (BBC Studios / BBC Sounds | 7 x 20’’ | prod. Monica Whitlock)
The Ballad Of The Bet (composed feature for BBC Radio 4, prod. Monica Whitlock)
The Ballad Of The Fix (composed feature for BBC Radio 4, prod. Monica Whitlock)
The Ballad Of The Blade (composed feature for BBC Radio 4, prod. Monica Whitlock)
Audio drama & composed features
Jon has worked extensively with BBC audio drama as both composer and sound designer; recent work includes Marietta Kirkbride’s astonishing drama series Spores for BBC Sounds Limelight, sound designing the first radio adaptation of Max Porter’s extraordinary novel Lanny for Radio 4, and for Radio 3 Drama on 3 producing / sound designing The Hummingbird, composing for Henry IV Parts 1 & 2 and collaborating with Tony Harrison on his new adaptation of Euripides’ Iphigenia in Tauris . Highlights of his other work include the serialisation of Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea novels, a new dramatisation of Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer-winning novel Beloved, Peter Flannery’s adaptation of Robert Pirsig’s cult 70’s classic Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance for BBC Radio 4, Erebus, Jo Shapcott’s poetic retelling of the doomed 19th-century Franklin expedition to the Arctic, serialisations of H P Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth and At The Mountains of Madness), and Radio 3’s acclaimed adaptation of H G Wells’ The Time Machine, starring Robert Glenister, reviewed by the Guardian .
He’s currently working on several new immersive audio productions with leading independent Almost Tangible.
He has also collaborated on numerous composed features bringing factual storytelling together with music and intricately detailed and expressive sound design. These include Ballad Of The Blade, Ballad Of The Fix, Water Towers Of New York and What I Heard About Iraq which received a Jury Special Mention at the Prix Italia.
Screen
Jon’s composed extensively for factual television, working with companies including BBC Scotland, Blakeway, Firecracker, Hard Cash Productions, Films Of Record, Mentorn, Urban Films, Sky, ITV and Al Jazeera. Highlights include The Celtic Cartel for Amazon, Firecracker Films’ smash-hit documentary Married To The Moonies and Scotland From The Sky for BBC Scotland. Non-broadcast / corporate work includes fundraising films for Cambridge University Hospitals Redevelopment Trust, the International Red Cross, and music and sound design for films forming part of the promotional package for the rebranding of Gatwick airport.
Theatre
Jon worked extensively in theatre between 2010 and 2021 as both composer and sound designer. Highlights include April de Angelis’ epic two-part adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend in the Olivier at the National Theatre directed by Melly Still, Iqbal Khan’s revival of East Is East in the Lyttleton at the National Theatre, working with John Malkovich on Good Canary at the Rose and collaborating with Jamiroquai’s Sola Akingbola on the score for the RSC’s smash-hit production of Hamlet. He composed / sound-designed the world stage premiere of David Greig’s hugely acclaimed adaptation of Joe Simpson’s survival classic Touching The Void which went on to a sell-out West-End run, and created music / sound-design for Theatre Royal Bath’s production of Florian Zeller’s The Mother, starring Gina McKee, nominated for Best New Play in the WhatsOnStage Awards. Other theatre highlights includes Owen Sheers’ devastating Pink Mist at Bristol Old Vic and the Bush (nominated for best sound design, Off-West End Awards), Idomeneus and Dear Elizabeth at the Gate, and the National Theatre’s smash-hit European premiere productions of Tennessee Williams’s Spring Storm and Eugene O’Neill’s Beyond the Horizon – ‘a triumph on so many levels I would need at least twice the space to do them justice’ (Independent); ‘one of the most thrilling theatre offerings of the decade’ (Telegraph).