Jonathan Nott
Jonathan Nott took up the post of Principal Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra in January 2000. Since his appointment, he has taken the orchestra regularly on tour – to South America, Russia, Japan and the USA and perfomed at prominent festivals such as Salzburg, Edinburgh and the London Proms. Jonathan Nott renewed his contract with the orchestra in May 2009 extending his term as Principal Conductor through to the 2011/12 season.
In 2007 Jonathan Nott appeared as “Artiste Étoile” at the Lucerne Festival where he gave four performances with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra as Orchestra in Residence in repertoire ranging from Ligeti’s Requiem to Wagner’s Das Rheingold.
This Residency followed the orchestra’s highly acclaimed 2005 Edinburgh Festival Residency in which Jonathan Nott and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra combined challenging and interesting programming which has since become their hallmark.
British born, Nott read Music at Cambridge, studied flute and singing in Manchester and conducting in London. In 1988 he made his conducting debut at the Opera Festival in Battignano, and was appointed Kapellmeister at Frankfurt Opera in the following year.
In 1991 he was appointed first Kapellmeister at the Hessian National Theater Wiesbaden and he went on to become interim Chief Music Director for the 1995/96 season. During that time he conducted an extensive repertoire of opera, ballet and musicals, including all the major works of Mozart, Verdi and Puccini and his first complete Ring Cycle. Simultaneously he began a close relationship with Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt. In 1998 he went on to become Music Director of the Lucerne Theatre and Principal Conductor of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra.
Since the mid-nineties Jonathan Nott has appeared as guest conductor with orchestras that include the New Nork and Los Angeles Philharmonics, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Tonhalle Zurich, NDR Hamburg, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, London and Munich Philharmonic Orchestras and the Orchestre de Paris. He has worked with the Berlin Philharmonic, with whom he recorded the complete orchestral works – including the Requiem – of György Ligeti for Warner Classics. Both recordings have received critical acclaim.
A great champion of contemporary music, Nott has given world premieres of major works by composers such as Brian Ferneyhough, Wolfgang Rihm, Helmut Lachenmann and Aribert Reimann and, together with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, has premiered new works by Jörg Widmann, Bruno Mantovani and Mark-Anthony Turnage. In August 2000 he became Principal Conductor of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, and in 2004 its Chief Guest Conductor.
In 2006 Jonathan Nott appeared as guest conductor with both the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics as well as the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo. He additionally made his debut with the Philharmonia in London. Upcoming guest conducting engagements include performances with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic at the Wien Modern Festival.
The 2006/07 season saw the completion of Bamberg’s highly-acclaimed recordings for Tudor Records of the complete symphonies of Schubert with the release of Symphony no. 8 (The Great) as well as Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. A further release in 2007 on Tudor was Mahler Symphony no. 1 and in November 2008 Mahler Symphony no. 4 that was nominated for the MIDEM Classical Award 2009. Mahler Symphony No. 9 was published in August this year and immediately won the International Recording Prize "Toblacher Komponierhäuschen".
2009/2010 Season Highlights
May 2009
17 - 23
USA tour including two concerts at the Lincoln Center in New York City
Pierre-Laurent Aimard, soloist
June 2009
10
Concert at the Wiener Konzerthaus
Pierre-Laurent Aimard, soloist
July 2009
11
Concert at the Kissinger Sommer
23
Gustav Mahler Musikwochen in Toblach Performance of Symphony No. 9 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the score’s completion in Toblach,
presentation of the new CD for Tudor and the Bavarian Radio
29
„Proms“- Concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London
Arabella Steinbacher, soloist
September 2009
20
Berliner Philharmonie
Concert as part of the Musikfest
Marisol Montalvo and
Niclas Oettermann, soloists
October 2009
10 – 21
12th Japan tour, including two concerts at the Sapporo Concert Hall and the Suntory Hall in Tokyo each
Pierre-Laurent Aimard and
Christian Tetzlaff, soloists
December 2009
16 / 18
Concerts in Hamburg, Luxembourg and Stuttgart
Vadim Repin and Sergey Khachatryan,
soloists
January / February 2010
25 / 1 – 5 / 2
Spain and Andorra tour,
including concerts in Barcelona, Valencia and Madrid
Horacio Gutiérrez and Sergey Khachatryan,
soloists
February / March 2010
3rd International Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition
May 2010
29
Concert at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden
Sarah Conolly, soloist
June 2010
13
Concert at the Bachfest in Leipzig
Renaud Capuçon, soloist