Peter Jonas (director)

Sir Peter Jonas, CBE, FRCM, FRNCM, FRSA (born 14 October 1946), is a British Arts Administrator and opera company director.

Jonas studied at Worth School, and took an English Literature degree at the University of Sussex. He later studied History of Music at Royal Northern College of Music Manchester, and the Royal College of Music London, with a final semester at Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester US.

In 1974, Jonas became the assistant to Sir Georg Solti, the Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, becoming the orchestra's Artistic Administrator in 1976, and, in 1977, the Director of Artistic Administration of the Chicago Orchestral Association. Returning to England, he took over the management of the English National Opera, holding the position from 1985 to 1993, succeeding Lord Harewood. He later became a patron of The Solti Foundation.

He was awarded an honorary doctorate of music from the University of Sussex in 1993. In September that year, Munich's Bavarian State Opera 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, promoted its opera for all project and supported contemporary composers by introducing fourteen new-work premieres. He was awarded the Bayerische Verfassungsmedaille in 2001.

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