Sir John Peter Jonas (14 October 1946 – 22 April 2020) was a British

arts administrator Arts administration (alternatively arts management) is a field in the arts sector that facilitates programming within cultural organizations. Arts administrators are responsible for facilitating the day-to-day operations of the organization as we ...

and opera company director.

Life and career

Jonas was born in London, the son of Hilda (Ziadie), a fashion model, and Walter Jonas, who ran a dye works and a factory. His father was a German Jewish emigrant, from Hamburg, and his mother was of Jamaican and Lebanese descent. Jonas studied at

Worth School Worth School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private co-educational Roman Catholic boarding school, boarding and day school, day school for pupils from 11 to 18 years of age near Worth, West Sussex, Worth, West Sussex, England. Unti ...

, and took an English Literature degree at the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

. He later studied History of Music at Royal Northern College of Music Manchester, and the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

London, with a final semester at

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. Established in 1921 by celebrated industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman, it was the ...

University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...

US. In November 1974, Jonas became the assistant to

Sir Georg Solti Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt, and London, and as a long-servi ...

, music director of the

Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891, the ensemble has been based in the Symphony Center since 1904 and plays a summer season at the Ravinia F ...

, serving in that capacity until December 1977. Jonas became artistic administrator of the CSO on 1 January 1978 and he held that position until May 1985. Returning to England, he took over the management of the

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is a British opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in E ...

, holding the position from June 1985 to 1993, succeeding

Lord Harewood Earl of Harewood (), in the County of York, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. History The title was created in 1812 for Edward Lascelles, 1st Baron Harewood, a wealthy sugar plantation owner and former Member of Parliament for ...

. He later became a patron of The Solti Foundation. He was awarded an honorary doctorate of music from the

in 1993. In September that year, Munich's

Bavarian State Opera The Bavarian State Opera () is a German opera company based in Munich. Its main venue is the Nationaltheater München, and its orchestra the Bavarian State Orchestra. History The parent ensemble of the company was founded in 1653, under El ...

invited Jonas to become its Staatsintendant (General and artistic director); he held this position until 2006. While there he extended the company's repertoire within

baroque opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

, promoted its ''opera for all'' project and supported contemporary composers by introducing fourteen new-work premieres. He was awarded the

Bayerische Verfassungsmedaille The Bayerische Verfassungsmedaille (Bavarian Constitution Medal) is an award by the German state Bavaria, which is awarded annually by the Bavarian state parliament to persons who have rendered outstanding services to the Bavarian constitution. ...

in 2001. Jonas became a faculty member and lecturer at the

University of St. Gallen The University of St. Gallen (HSG) is a research university located in St. Gallen, Switzerland, that specialises in business administration, economics, law, international affairs, and computer science. It was established in 1898. It consistent ...

in 2003, a lecturer at the

University of Zürich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

, and a visiting lecturer for the Bavarian Theatre Academy Munich in 2004. He was the first chairman of the German Speaking Opera Intendants (Directors) Conference from 2001 to 2005, and a judging panel member for the 2006 International Wagner Competition,

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. Jonas, with

Plácido Domingo José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French, ...

, journalist Christine Lemke-Matwey, and Charles Barber, contributed to a documentary on the life and art of

Carlos Kleiber Carlos Kleiber (3 July 1930 – 13 July 2004) was a German-born Austrian conductor, who is widely regarded as among the greatest conductors of all time. The son of the conductor Erich Kleiber, he was particularly known for the Romantic rep ...

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

(26 September 2009). He had a long relationship with the great Slovak soprano

Lucia Popp Lucia Popp (born Lucia Poppová; 12 November 193916 November 1993) was a Slovak operatic soprano. She began her career as a soubrette, and later moved into the light-lyric and lyric coloratura soprano repertoire and then the lighter Richard Str ...

, from 1973. After that ended, he was married to Lucy Hall from 1989 to 2001 and then to Barbara Burgdorf from 2012 until his death.Peter Jonas, Innovative Opera Impresario, Is Dead at 73
/ref>

Trusteeships, board or council memberships

National Opera Studio The National Opera Studio in London, England was established in 1977 by the Arts Council of Great Britain, Arts Council as a link between the music colleges and the six main UK opera companies. It was resident at Morley College in Lambeth until ...

(1985–93); *Association Internationale de Directeurs de L'Opera (1985–2006); *Royal College of Music (1988–95); *London Lighthouse (1990–92) *Kuratorium Richard Strauss Gesellschaft (1993–2009); *Deutscher Bühnenverein (1993–2006); *Advisory Board of the

Bayerische Vereinsbank The ''Bayerische Vereinsbank'' () was a German bank founded in 1869 in Munich. It developed into one of the largest regional banks in Germany, before merging in 1998 with Bayerische Hypotheken- und Wechsel-Bank (also known as Hypo-Bank) to form ...

(1994); *Hypovereinsbank Munich (1994–2004); *Bayerischer Rundfunk (Bavarian Radio and TV 1999); *Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts (2005); *Berlin State Opera and Ballet companies (2005); *Carl Linde Academy Technical University Munich (2006); *

Netherlands Opera The Dutch National Opera (DNO; formerly De Nederlandse Opera, now De Nationale Opera in Dutch) is a Dutch opera company based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its present home base is the Dutch National Opera & Ballet housed in the Stopera building, a m ...

Amsterdam (2009); *

University of Lucerne The University of Lucerne (UNILU; German: ''Universität Luzern'') is a public university with a campus in Lucerne, Switzerland. 1,460 undergraduates and 1,258 postgraduate students attend the university, which makes it Switzerland's smallest un ...

Switzerland (2009).

Honours

*Fellow of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

; *Fellow of the Royal College of Music (1989); *Commander of the Order of the British Empire (1991) for services to Opera; *Fellow of the Royal Northern College of Music (2000); *

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

(2000); *

Bavarian Order of Merit The Bavarian Order of Merit () is the Order of Merit of the Free State of Bavaria. It is awarded by the Minister-President of Bavaria as a "recognition of outstanding contributions to the Free State of Bavaria and the Bavarian people". The or ...

(2001); *

Cultural Honor Prize of the City of Munich The Cultural Honor Prize of the City of Munich () is a cultural award presented annually by the City of Munich since 1958. The award is endowed with 10,000 euros. The prize is given to "a personality of international renown for their cultural or s ...

(2003); * Karl Valentin Order of Merit (2006); *

Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art The Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art () was first established on 28 November 1853 by King Maximilian II von Bayern. It is awarded to acknowledge and reward excellent and outstanding achievements in the field of science and art. From ...

(2008)

Publications

*''Powerhouse, The English National Opera Experience'' (1993); *''Eliten und Demokratie'' (1999); *''Wenn Musik der Liebe Nahrung ist, spielt weiter...'' (2006).

References

External links