Sir Peter Jonas
Sir Peter Jonas has led the Bayerische Staatsoper as General Director from September 1993 until August 2006. In this and previous positions he has been an advocate for populist opera with the highest artistic standard and has also championed the cause of contemporary composers throughout his professional life.
Sir Peter was born in 1946 in London. He read English Literature at the University of Sussex for his first degree and as a postgraduate went on to study Opera and Music History first at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and then at the Royal College of Music in London, finally spending one year postgraduate study at the Eastman School of Music Rochester New York USA.
In 1974 Sir Peter was appointed Director of Artistic Administration at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 1984 Sir Peter was named as General Director of the English National Opera succeeding the Earl of Harewood. Sir Peter was appointed to the Bavarian State Opera in 1991 to be General Director from 1993. In 2001 Sir Peter was elected by his Intendant colleagues to become chairman of the “Deutsche Opernkonferenz” the association of all German speaking opera houses and other major European houses.
Sir Peter is Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and in 1989 was made a fellow of the Royal College of Music. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester. In 1993 he was made CBE for his services to the arts and knighted in 2000. Sir Peter holds the honorary degree of Doctor of Music from the University of Sussex as well as the “Bayerische Verdienstorden” (Bavarian distinguished service cross) and the Bavarian constitutional medal. The City of Munich awarded Sir Peter its Prize for Culture in 2003.
