Jonathan Nott, new musical director of the Liceu

BarcelonaBritish composer Jonathan Nott (Solihull, 1962) will be the new principal musical director of the Gran Teatro del Liceu starting in the 2026-27 season for five seasons. Nott takes over from Josep Pons, who has led the theater's orchestra for fourteen years. "This appointment represents a great privilege and an honor for me. Since my childhood, I have been deeply connected to the world of singing and opera, and whenever I have had the opportunity to conduct Barcelona, I have heard a very special connection with its audiences," says Nott.

"I enthusiastically applaud the appointment of Jonathan Nott as my successor as musical director of the Gran Teatro del Liceu. I think it is a great success and excellent news both for the theater and for the musical world of our country," says Josep Pons.

Jonathan Nott, who is currently Chief Conductor of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and Music and Artistic Director of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, has also served as Music Director of the Lucerne Opera and Music Director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain. One of the English musician's great milestones was the promotion between 2000 and 2016 of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble with which he made memorable programs such as the one he dedicated in Beethoven at L'Auditori as part of the Ibercamera season.

Trained in choral singing as a child, he later became a tenor at Cambridge University, studied operatic singing at the Royal Northern College of Music, and sang with the hearts of St. Paul's and Westminster Cathedrals. He also studied voice and flute at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. He trained in conducting with David Parry at the London Opera Studio. His first position was as a repertoire manager at the Frankfurt Opera, under Garry Bertini, who gave him his first opportunity as a conductor: The giardiniera feint by Mozart and Beckett Trilogy by Heinz Holliger. He then directed The nose by Shostakovich and Mahagonny de Weill.

Throughout his career he has conducted, especially in concert versions, a rather broad catalogue of operas, from Mozart to Maxwell Davies, including works by Cimarosa, Rossini, Verdi, Gounod, Strauss, Puccini, Prokofiev and Hostakovich, Wei. Wagner's Ring.