With his immense charisma and inspired programming drawing on a symphonic repertoire that extends from Schubert and Bruckner to Mahler and Shostakovich, and to the very edge of creation in the world of contemporary music, conductor Jonathan Nott shares his musical and human experience at the highest level.

Watching and listening to him, we are witness to an exceptional talent who invites his musicians and audiences to accompany him on a journey where seemingly opposite worlds are transformed into deep emotions and rigorous intellectual reflection.

After studying music at the University of Cambridge, singing and flute at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and conducting in London, Jonathan Nott began his career at the opera houses in Frankfurt and Wiesbaden where he conducted all major works of the repertoire including Wagner’s complete Ring cycle, which has remained at the core of his repertoire, and he will conduct again in Basel during the 2024/25 season.

Since being appointed Principal Conductor of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Jonathan Nott has enjoyed a special relationship with Switzerland, taking an active part in the inaugural season of the KKL and performing there with the Ensemble Intercontemporain of which he was the Music Director from 2000 to 2003. During his sixteen years as Principal Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra he launched the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition from which have emerged some of today's world famous conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel and Lahav Shani.

Well known for the power, vigor and clarity of his interpretations of Mahler, Jonathan Nott was invited in 2014 to conduct the musicians of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in a performance of Mahler’s 7, resulting in his appointment as Music and Artistic Director of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in January 2017.

He has simultaneously held the post of Music Director of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra since 2012.

He also brings inspiration to young artists through his loyal and long term commitment to the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and to the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra.

Throughout his rich and varied career, Jonathan Nott has conducted most of the renowned contemporary orchestras and formations, working alongside Györgi Ligeti, Luciano Berio, Pierre Boulez, Helmut Lachenmann and Karlheinz Stockhausen, as well as composers of his own generation.

What's more, his knowledge and understanding of the operatic repertoire make his performances in this sector, marked by their unerring, deeply moving and spiritual musical style, poignantly memorable.

His recent propjects include an incredible production of Saint-François d’Assise in Geneva, two concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra performing works by Mazzoli, Eötvös and Ives, a tour of Germany with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie as well as performances of Wagner’s Ring with the Sinfonieorchester Basel.

He started 2025 conducting the SWR Symphonieorchester followed by the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Dresdner Philharmonie and and has an OSR Asia Tour planned for this spring.

Jonathan Nott has an extensive and eclectic catalog of highly acclaimed recordings, including the complete orchestral works of Ligeti with the Berlin Phil., the complete symphonic works of Schubert and Mahler with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, and Mahler's Song of the Earth with the Vienna Phil. and Jonas Kaufmann.

Since taking over the helm of the OSR, a first recording featuring works by Richard Strauss, Claude Debussy and György Ligeti was released in 2018 on Pentatone followed by a highly acclaimed recording on the theme of Pelléas et Mélisande with works by Debussy and Schönberg which received a "Choc" from Classica and the “Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik” (the German Record Critics Prize). A third CD featuring pianist Francesco Piemontesi with works by Ravel, Schoenberg and Messiaen was released in 2022.

His latest recording from July 2024 is Bruckner 1 with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.

Founded in 1918 by Ernest Ansermet, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (OSR) has relied on nearly 700 musicians to establish its reputation. Under the leadership of British conductor Jonathan Nott, who has been at the helm for over seven years, the orchestra is today made up of 112 permanent musicians of 22 different nationalities. The OSR performs more than 80 concerts each year, including about 20 abroad. The orchestra gives subscription concerts in Geneva and Lausanne, symphonic programmes for the City of Geneva, the annual United Nations Day concert and accompanies operatic performances at the Grand Théâtre of Geneva. Over the decades, the OSR has built up an international reputation thanks to its historic recordings and its interpretation of the 20th-century French and Russian repertories.

The British conductor Jonathan Nott has served as the OSR’s Music and Artistic Director since January 2017, following in the steps of the OSR’s founding head and successive music directors: Paul Kletzki (1967-1970), Wolfgang Sawallisch (1970-1980), Horst Stein (1980-1985), Armin Jordan (1985-1997), Fabio Luisi (1997-2002), Pinchas Steinberg (2002-2005), Marek Janowski (2005-2012), Neeme Järvi (2012-2015), and its principal guest conductor Kazuki Yamada (2012-2017). Under their guidance, the world-renowned OSR has actively contributed to the history of music through the discovery and support of contemporary composers. Works by Igor Stravinsky, Darius Milhaud, Arthur Honegger, Frank Martin, André-François Marescotti, Benjamin Britten, Witold Lutosławski, Heinz Holliger, William Blank, Peter Eötvös, James Macmillan, Pascal Dusapin and Michael Jarrell constitute just some of the OSR’s world premières. The OSR has continually pursued the promotion and performance of new symphonic music, especially by Swiss composers, as one of its important missions.

Launched in 2019, the artist-in-residence programme has hosted composers Yann Robin and Michael Jarrell, pianists Francesco Piemontesi and Marc Perrenoud, violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann, and clarinetist Martin Fröst. For the 2024–25 season, the OSR has saxophonist Valentine Michaud in residency. This programme allows the orchestra to forge rich relationships and experience an artistic renewal.

Since 2022, the creation of an assistant conductor position has allowed the laureates to prepare concert programmes, recordings, operas, and tours, while accumulating valuable experience in orchestra management.

In close collaboration with Radio-Television Switzerland since its creation, the orchestra's broadcasts over the airwaves date back to its early days, to the benefit of millions of listeners throughout the world. The OSR has recorded over 100 discs in partnership with Decca, giving rise to truly legendary recordings and enhancing its position on the international music scene. The orchestra has made prize-winning recordings for around a dozen international labels.

The OSR’s international tours have taken it to the leading concert halls in Europe (Berlin, London, Vienna, Salzburg, Paris, Amsterdam, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Brno, Madrid) and Asia (Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai, Bombay), as well as key cities in the Americas (Boston, New York, San Francisco, Washington, São Paulo, Buenos Aires and Montevideo).

The OSR is highly sought after by the most prestigious festivals, and since 2000 has played at the Budapest Spring Festival, les Chorégies d’Orange, le Festival de Música de Canarias, le Festival de Pâques, Lucerne Festival, Nuits Romantiques (Aix-les-Bains), Festival Radio France (Montpellier), Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Septembre Musical (Montreux), Amsterdam’s ZomerConcerten, the Grafenegg Festival (Austria) and the BBC Proms (London). The OSR also founded its own festival: since 2020, it has been performing at Geneva-Plage, on the shores of Lake Geneva, with artists such as Yoav Levanon, Marzena Diakun, Francesco Piemontesi, and this season, Matt Dusk.

One of the key missions of the OSR is to promote symphonic music amongst the young people who will become tomorrow’s audience and offer them a wide range of activities. These include notably a series of workshops forming an educational programme to prepare children for concerts, the interactive “Concerts for little ears” allowing younger children to try out instruments, the Family Concert series at the Victoria Hall, concerts for schools, and rehearsals open to schools in collaboration with the Department for Education. Every year, the orchestra tours French-speaking Switzerland, making itself heard by schoolchildren from all the French-speaking cantons.

The Orchestre de la Suisse Romande is supported by the City of Geneva, the Republic and Canton of Geneva, the Canton of Vaud, Radio-Television Switzerland, the Friends of the OSR Association, and many other sponsors and patrons.