Sir Peter Jonas Has Passed Away at 73

Sir Peter Jonas, former head of English National Opera and the Bavarian State Opera has passed away at age 73 from cancer.

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. He took over the management of the English National Opera and hel the position from 1985 to 1993.

In 1993, Munich's Bavarian State Opera invited Jonas to become its Staatsintendant (General and Artistic Director). This was a position he held until 2006. He was awarded the Bayerische Verfassungsmedaille in 2001.

Jonas was honored with Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts; 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 (2000); Bavarian Constitution Medal (2001); Kultureller Ehrenpreis der Landeshauptstadt München (Munich State Medal 2003); Karl Valentin Order of Merit (2006); Bayerischer Maximilians-Orden für Wissenschaft und Kunst (Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art 2008)