Spain, Portugal & Latin America
With his immense charisma and inspired programming drawing on a symphonic repertoire that extends from Schubert and Bruckner to Mahler and Shostakovich, and to the very edge of creation in the world of contemporary music, conductor Jonathan Nott shares his musical and human experience at the highest level.
Watching and listening to him, we are witness to an exceptional talent who invites his musicians and audiences to accompany him on a journey where seemingly opposite worlds are transformed into deep emotions and rigorous intellectual reflection.
After studying music at the University of Cambridge, singing and flute at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and conducting in London, Jonathan Nott began his career at the opera houses in Frankfurt and Wiesbaden where he conducted all major works of the repertoire including Wagner’s complete Ring cycle, which has remained at the core of his repertoire, and he will conduct again in Basel during the 2024-2025 season.
Since being appointed Principal Conductor of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Jonathan Nott has enjoyed a special relationship with Switzerland, taking an active part in the inaugural season of the KKL and performing there with the Ensemble Intercontemporain of which he was the Music Director from 2000 to 2003. During his sixteen years as Principal Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra he launched the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition from which have emerged some of today’s world famous conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel and Lahav Shani.
Well known for the power, vigor and clarity of his interpretations of Mahler, Jonathan Nott was invited in 2014 to conduct the musicians of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in a performance of Mahler’s 7, resulting in his appointment as Music and Artistic Director of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in January 2017.
He has simultaneously held the post of Music Director of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra since 2012.
He also brings inspiration to young artists through his loyal and long term commitment to the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and to the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra.
Throughout his rich and varied career, Jonathan Nott has conducted most of the renowned contemporary orchestras and formations, working alongside Györgi Ligeti, Luciano Berio, Pierre Boulez, Helmut Lachenmann and Karlheinz Stockhausen, as well as composers of his own generation.
What's more, his knowledge and understanding of the operatic repertoire make his performances in this sector, marked by their unerring, deeply moving and spiritual musical style, poignantly memorable.
His recent projects include an incredible production of Saint-François d’Assise in Geneva, two concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra performing works by Mazzoli, Eötvös and Ives, a tour of Germany with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie as well as performances of Wagner’s Ring with the Sinfonieorchester Basel.
He started 2025 conducting the SWR Symphonieorchester followed by the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Dresdner Philharmonie and has an OSR Asia Tour planned for this spring.
Jonathan Nott has an extensive and eclectic catalog of highly acclaimed recordings, including the complete orchestral works of Ligeti with the Berlin Phil., the complete symphonic works of Schubert and Mahler with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, and Mahler's Song of the Earth with the Vienna Philharmonic and Jonas Kaufmann.
Since taking over the helm of the OSR, a first recording featuring works by Richard Strauss, Claude Debussy and György Ligeti was released in 2018 on Pentatone followed by a highly acclaimed recording on the theme of Pelléas et Mélisande with works by Debussy and Schönberg which received a "Choc" from Classica and the “Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik” (the German Record Critics Prize). A third CD featuring pianist Francesco Piemontesi with works by Ravel, Schoenberg and Messiaen was released in 2022.
His latest recording from July 2024 is Bruckner Symphony 1 with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.
