Peter Jonas (Artistic Director)

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Sir John Peter Jonas CBE , FRSA (born October 14, 1946 in London , † April 22, 2020 in Munich ) was a British cultural manager and opera director . From 1993 to 2006 he was State Director of the Bavarian State Opera .

Life

Peter Jonas was born in 1946 as the son of a German and an Englishwoman with Scottish and Spanish-Lebanese roots. He attended the Worth School . He then studied English literature at the University of Sussex , but then switched to opera and music history after completing his first degree. He studied these two subjects at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and later at the Royal College of Music in London. One last year he studied at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York .

In 1974 he went to Chicago as assistant to the general music director Sir Georg Solti , where he became artistic director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra two years later . During his eleven-year tenure, he worked with many well-known composers, soloists and conductors. In 1984 he was appointed General Director of the English National Opera . A year later he took office. During his tenure, the National Opera's international reputation improved through new pieces in the repertoire and the performance of well-known pieces for a wide audience.

On September 1, 1993, Sir Peter Jonas became State Director of the Bavarian State Opera . He held this office until August 2006. During this time he expanded the repertoire to include many baroque operas. He also lobbied vigorously for the “Opera for Everyone” project and for works by contemporary composers with fourteen world premieres. His efforts have always focused on the main goals of today's opera: accessibility and quality. From 2005 he was a member of the board of trustees of the “Oper in Berlin” and a member of the advisory board of the Technical University of Munich .

Jonas died in April 2020 at the age of 73 as a result of prolonged cancer ( Hodgkin's lymphoma ).

honors and awards

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Opera manager Peter Jonas died at the age of 73 , deutschlandfunkkultur.de, published and accessed on April 23, 2020.
  2. ↑ Deutschlandfunk website : At the microphone: The opera director Sir Peter Jonas (accessed on April 23, 2020).
  3. ↑ Robert Braunmüller: Sir Peter Jonas: "There is a malignant tumor in my chest", in: AZ online from August 3, 2018, accessed on April 23, 2020
personal data
SURNAME Jonas, Peter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jonas, John Peter (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British cultural manager and artistic director
DATE OF BIRTH October 14, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH April 22, 2020
Place of death Munich