Jonathan Stockhammer

“The LSO was on electrifying form for Stockhammer in Adams, Debussy, and Ravel. The playing had an extraordinarily clean, gleaming, pristine quality, so that every fleck of sound told. It yielded nothing to Adams’s own performance with the LSO 20 years ago, in its brilliance, its emotional clout and its sense of epiphany.”
Seen and Heard International

Recent highlights in Jonathan Stockhammer’s diary include Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 ‘Resurrection’ with the Seoul Philharmonic opening the 2025 PyeongChang Festival, his debut with the London Symphony Orchestra with works by Debussy, Ravel, and Adams, and a sold-out run of Philip Glass’ Akhnaten in Barrie Kosky’s new production at Komische Oper Berlin. He conducted Mahler, Mendelssohn, and Haas in his debut with Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra at Tokyo Opera City; Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 at the Vienna Musikverein; Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde at Ljubljana Festival; Lutosławski’s Concerto for Orchestra with Bremer Philharmoniker; Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin with Staatskapelle Berlin, and a mini-festival including violin concertos of Berg, Stravinsky, Bartók, Prokofiev, Schönberg, and Hartmann with Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Dresdner Philharmonic. His musical direction of Kirill Serebrennikov’s new production of Alfred Schnittke’s Life with an Idiot at Zurich Opera earned lavish praise: “huge ovations at the Zurich Opera House…one of the great conductors of modern music leads Schnittke’s complex score… with enormous aplomb” (SWR Kultur).

Forthcoming highlights for the 2025-26 season include Stockhammer’s Bayreuther Festspiele debut with Bernhard Lang’s Brünnhilde brennt, in cooperation with Theater Dortmund; Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 3 with Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern; a tour with the Bundesjungendorchester and Bundesjazzorchester including dates at the Berlin and Cologne Philharmonies; Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 with Bremer Philharmoniker, and returns to Staatskapelle Dresden, and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra. Additionally, he works with Sinfoniker Hamburg (Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6), Bilkent Symphony Orchestra (Copland’s Appalachian Spring), with Ensemble Modern, and Dresden Sinfoniker.

Jonathan Stockhammer regularly conducts leading international orchestras including the Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Oslo Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Philharmonia, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, to name a few, and at such festivals as Salzburg, Lucerne, Schwetzingen, Donaueschingen, Biennale Venice, Wiener Festwochen and Wien Modern. Jonathan has also enjoyed close collaborations with Ensemble Modern, Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (RSB), WDR Symphony Orchestra, Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), London Sinfonietta, and Opéra de Lyon.

Opera plays a central role in Stockhammer’s career, with notable performances including Akhnaten (Glass), Satyagraha (Glass), Dialogues des Carmélites (Poulenc), The Cunning Little Vixen (Janáček), Carmen (Bizet), L’Heure Espagnole (Ravel), Powder Her Face (Adès), Faustus – the Last Night (Dusapin), Eine florentinische Tragödie (Zemlinsky), Al gran sole carico d’amore (Nono), Tri Sestri/Three Sisters (Eötvös), Proserpina (Rihm), and Luci mie traditrici (Sciarrino). He has conducted at prestigious houses such as the Vienna State Opera, Zurich Opera, Staatsoper Berlin, New York City Opera, Oper Frankfurt, Theater Basel, Opera Vlaanderen, the New National Theatre Tokyo, and Komische Oper Berlin.

Stockhammer explores music that blurs the boundaries between classical music, rock, pop, and hip-hop. His CD Greggery Peccary & Other Persuasions with Ensemble Modern, featuring works by Frank Zappa, won an Echo Klassik Award. He also recorded a new soundtrack to Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 film Battleship Potemkin, composed and performed by the Pet Shop Boys. His live recording of The New Crystal Silence with Chick Corea, Gary Burton and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra won a Grammy in 2009. His collaboration with spoken word artist Saul Williams on Said the Shotgun to the Head, featuring music composed by Thomas Kessler, has also been particularly successful.

Born in Los Angeles in 1969, Jonathan studied composition with Ian Krouse and Stephen Hartke, and conducting with Daniel Lewis. Still a student, he had the opportunity to fill in for a series of concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and was subsequently mentored by chief conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen. He later moved to Germany where he still resides.

GERMAN BIOGRAPHY

“Jonathan Stockhammer am Pult des Deutschen Symphonie-Orchesters Berlin (DSO) ist ein Lustmusiker, der etwas weiß über Kontrolle als Weg zur Ekstase.” – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

“The LSO was on electrifying form for Stockhammer in Adams, Debussy, and Ravel. The playing had an extraordinarily clean, gleaming, pristine quality, so that every fleck of sound told. It yielded nothing to Adams’s own performance with the LSO 20 years ago, in its brilliance, its emotional clout and its sense of epiphany.” – Seen and Heard International

Zu den jüngsten und bevorstehenden Höhepunkten in Stockhammers Terminkalender zählen sein Debüt mit dem London Symphony Orchestra mit Werken von Debussy, Ravel und Adams, Mahlers 6. Sinfonie im Wiener Musikverein, Tschaikowskys Eugene Onegin mit der Staatskapelle Berlin, Philip Glass‘ Echnaton in Barrie Koskys Neuinszenierung an der Komischen Oper Berlin, eine halbszenische Aufführung von Brittens The Turn of the Screw sowie das Eröffnungskonzert des PyeongChang Festivals 2025 mit dem Seoul Philharmonic, Mahlers 10. Sinfonie, Mendelssohn und Haas mit dem Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Mahlers Das Lied von der Erde beim Ljubljana Festival, Lutosławskis Concerto for Orchestra mit den Bremer Philharmonikern sowie ein Mini-Festival mit Violinkonzerten von Berg, Strawinsky, Bartók, Prokofjew, Schönberg und Hartmann mit Patricia Kopatchinskaja und der Dresdner Philharmonie. Im vergangenen Herbst übernahm er die musikalische Leitung von Kirill Serebrennikovs Neuinszenierung von Alfred Schnittkes Leben mit einem Idioten am Opernhaus Zürich und erntete überschwängliches Lob: „Der Dirigent Jonathan Stockhammer führt durch die Untiefen des Stücks, wie einer, dem man ohne weiteres jeden Musikstil abkauft.“ (Schweizer Radio SRF 2).

Als weltweit gefragter Künstler dirigiert Jonathan Stockhammer regelmäßig renommierte Orchester, darunter das Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, das Oslo Philharmonic, die Tschechische Philharmonie, das Finnische Radio-Sinfonieorchester, das NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, die Philharmonia, das HR-Sinfonieorchester, das Seoul Philharmonic, das Wiener Radio-Sinfonieorchester, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra und Sydney Symphony Orchestra, und bei Festivals wie Salzburg, Luzern, Schwetzingen, Donaueschingen, der Biennale Venedig, den Wiener Festwochen und Wien Modern. Ihn verbindet zudem eine enge Zusammenarbeit dem Ensemble Modern, dem Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, dem Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, dem WDR-Sinfonieorchester, der London Sinfonietta und der Opéra de Lyon.

Die Oper spielt in Jonathan Stockhammers Karriere eine zentrale Rolle. Zu seinen bemerkenswerten Aufführungen zählen Dialogues des Carmélites (Poulenc), Das schlaue Füchslein (Janáček), Carmen (Bizet), L’Heure Espagnole (Ravel), Powder her face (Adès), Faustus – die letzte Nacht (Dusapin), Eine florentinische Tragödie (Zemlinsky), Al gran sole carico d’amore (Nono), Tri Sestri/Drei Schwestern (Eötvös), Proserpina (Rihm) und Luci mie traditrici (Sciarrino). Er hat an namhafen Häusern wie der Wiener Staatsoper, Oper Zürich, Staatsoper Berlin, New York City Opera, Oper Frankfurt, dem Theater Basel, der Opera Vlaanderen, dem New National Theatre Tokyo und der Komischen Oper Berlin dirigiert

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