Young conductor Kerry Jago was the second recipient of a Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation grant which allowed him to return from Germany to conduct the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra in 2005. 

In 2011, Kerry completed his studies in early music singing with Michael Chance at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. Since then he has complemented his conducting work with regular appearances as a vocal soloist and ensemble singer, having recorded and performed throughout Europe with groups such as the Kammerchor Stuttgart and the Capella Sancti Georgi.

Kerry was back in New Zealand in 2012 assisting musical director Pietari Inkinen during the NZSO's production of Wagner's "The Valkyrie". He has since been appointed musical director of the Overbacher Singschule, a choir academy near Cologne, Germany, where he has just begun his second year of work. 2013 also saw Kerry's first appearance as a conductor at the European Youth Music week, to which he has been invited back this year.

In 2013 he founded the Sidonia-Ensemble, a professional early music ensemble based in Bonn, Germany, specialising in vocal works of the 16th and 17th centuries, which he both sings in and directs. Concerts for 2014 included the Lamentations of Jeremiah by Cavalieri and Israelsbrünnlein by Johann Hermann Schein.