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Jason Thomas Aylward will serve as interim music director of the Lakeland Symphony Orchestra (LSO) for the next 18 months.
Aylward, 33, moved to Lakeland five years ago to take on a teaching role at Southeastern University, where he also serves as orchestra director. He was previously principal trumpet player in the orchestra.
“Jason really emerged as a leader the moment that he stepped into this organization,” said Ashley Miller, executive director of the LSO. “His philosophy about music and the importance of being able to connect with people in that way is a philosophy that we all are in agreement with.”
Aylward follows in the footsteps of Mark Thielen, who spent more than 40 seasons involved with the orchestra and led the organization through several periods of change.
In 2000, Thielen was named music director and conductor of the Imperial Symphony Orchestra — renamed in 1987 after “Imperial Polk County.” In 2018, he led the musicians through the transition from volunteer to professional orchestra. And in 2021, Thielen saw the organization through a rebranding as the Lakeland Symphony Orchestra, the original name from the group’s founding in 1965.
Aylward takes the helm as the LSO completes its 60th season, which was again marked by transition after Thielen’s departure in August 2025.
The LSO announced the interim appointment on Feb. 4. The organization will conduct a nationwide search for the next permanent music director, “bringing in community stakeholders and folks to the table for that search to help make that decision,” Miller said. Aylward hopes to be considered for the position.
“It is truly kind of a wonderful, perfect storm of talent and drive and artistic vision that has so much potential here in Lakeland,” Aylward said. “So it’s exciting to be around and to be a part of it.”
Collaborative community season
When Thielen departed, several guest conductors were already set for the 2025-26 season, including Aylward and Robert Moody, previous principal opera conductor with the LSO and music director at the Memphis Symphony Orchestra.
“In that time of transition, we reached out to more community members to help conduct the rest of our season,” Miller said. “We have been able to pull from Florida Southern, Southeastern, Harrison School for the Arts … and to kind of create this collaborative community season, where we’ve got folks who have partnered with us and collaborated with us throughout our symphony lifetime, but have not stepped up on the podium.”
This season’s last performance at Branscomb Auditorium, “Defying Gravity: Bewitching Broadway,” is on April 4. Guest vocalists from New York City will join the LSO to perform songs from popular Broadway shows like “Wicked,” “Phantom of the Opera,” “Hamilton,” and more.
“We’re hoping to have this type of offering that will attract a whole new audience and make our experience more accessible to folks that just want to kind of dip their toe into trying out the symphony orchestra,” Miller said. “We feel that once we get them here and once they have that live music experience that they’re going to continue to want more.”
A more accessible symphony
Aylward said he has been active as a musician, conductor, and composer around the U.S. for years, and his experience shaped his approach to musical performance.
“My earliest music education was playing, actually, guitar and bass in blues clubs in Minneapolis,” Aylward said. “And from that, what really stuck with me was the connection of what music brings to people. And as much as quality is always a huge component of everything I do in terms of music making, the thing that is even greater than quality is connecting people with music.”
Looking toward the future, they said one of the LSO’s top priorities is “increasing our presence in the region.” Miller said they want to show people that the symphony offers something for everyone.
“I think a lot of that comes with breaking down these preconceptions and barriers of what people think the symphony is and what you feel like it should be,” Aylward said.
Miller said they are working to improve access to the symphony, especially for those who live on the other side of Polk County.
On March 1, Aylward will conduct the Cookie Concert, a free concert sponsored by Publix, for young audiences. The following day, Polk County Public Schools fifth graders will be bussed to the LSO from across the county. By the time those performances conclude, Miller said the LSO will have reached “about 9,000 fifth graders” during the 2025-26 season.
“The next layer of collaboration is thinking about how do we take it to them,” she said.
“We are very well primed to increase how much we metaphorically and physically open our doors to the community and to show them who we are and what we do — how can we practically find more ways to be out in our own region, in our own backyard, to show the fantastic work and product of what the Lakeland Symphony creates,” Aylward said.
Working from a place of trust
During his time as interim music director, Aylward said he hopes to elevate the LSO’s resident musicians and showcase their artistry. “As a conductor, you don’t make sound,” Aylward said. “Your job is to inspire trust and inspire the artistic creativity of the musicians who are there on stage in front of you.”
“My philosophy is that when you’re working from a place of trust, an ensemble, an organization, a team of any kind, can work better than the sum of their parts.”
He said the musical selections over the next 18 months — from the newly composed to that which has stood the test of time — will showcase the artistry of the more than 60 musicians that make up the LSO.
“There is such a wealth of talent,” he said. “I mean, truly, I believe that the Lakeland Symphony is one of the most talented orchestras in the state of Florida.”
Aylward earned his Bachelor of Music degree at Concordia College, in Moorhead, Minn., a Master of Music from Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Mich., and a Doctor of Musical Arts from The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, all with a focus on trumpet. He has moved around the country performing and conducting with different organizations and festivals, with residencies in Maine, Texas, and Los Angeles.
“I really like the different facets in which I get to perform music, share music with others — whether it’s been a horn in my hand, a pen in my hand, or the baton in my hand — helping people in front of me really make the best music to connect them with their community, with our community.”
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