JONAS ALBER was born in Offenburg, Germany, studied the violin and conducting in Freiburg and qualified as a conductor at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna. He was invited to observe the Salzburg and Bayreuth festivals numerous times. In 1995 he was awarded a scholarship by the Herbert von Karajan Foundation.  He was appointed General Music Director by the Staatstheater Braunschweig in 1998, thus becoming Germany’s youngest conductor in a position of this kind, which he held until summer 2007.
     
     JONAS ALBER has also directed renowned symphony orchestras such as the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio, the WDR Sinfonieorchester Cologne, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken, the MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, the Dresdner Philharmoniker, the Flemish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Belgique, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, the Zagreb Philharmonic, the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Gran Canaria Philharmonic. He has also conducted concerts with the Niederösterreichisches Tonkünstlerorchester Vienna, the St. Gallen Symphony Orchestra, Hamburger Symphoniker and Bochumer Symphoniker among many others. In 2006 JONAS ALBER made his debut with The Hague Residentie Orkest in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, performing Richard Strauss’ Alpine Symphony, followed by the debut with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in the Birmingham Symphony Hall. In summer 2007 JONAS ALBER returned to The Hague Residentie Orkest. Upcoming engagements include the Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen, the Kristiansand Symfoniorkester, the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre National de Lille. He will conduct during the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival in South Africa, work with the Orchestre National de Lille for the first time at the TACTUS Festival in Mons and is reinvited to conduct the Flemish Radio Symphony Orchestra during the Flandern Festival. In September 2008 he will conduct the BBC Symphony Orchestra for the first time.

     Numerous recordings exist by JONAS ALBER, such as the complete symphonic works of Schumann, and selected symphonic works of Mendelssohn, Franck, Richard Strauss and Sibelius. In 2005/2006 his recordings of Mahler’s second and third symphony appeared, of Richard Strauss' Alpine Symphony in 2007. Upcoming CD  respectively DVD releases for 2008 will be Strauss' Ein Heldenleben and Benoît Mernier's new opera Frühlings Erwachen. He recently made broadcast recordings with the WDR Sinfonieorchester of works by Respighi, Saint-Saëns and Ravel, as well as selected overtures by Beethoven with the MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig.

     As an operatic conductor, JONAS ALBER has nurtured traditional repertoire ranging from Mozart to Puccini and Richard Strauss. He gave highly celebrated performances of Der Ring des Nibelungen, and was reponsible for the first productions of operas such as Britten’s Peter Grimes, Zemlinsky’s Zwerg, Korngold’s Die tote Stadt, Ullmann’s Kaiser von Atlantis, Max von Schilling’s Mona Lisa, d'Albert's Tiefland and Janácek’s The Makropulos Case. His German premières of Philippe Boesmans’ operas Reigen, Wintermärchen and Julie, Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito with newly composed recitative texts by Manfred Trojahn during the 2006 Mozart Year, as well as the world première of Siegfried Matthus' opera Cosima at Braunschweig State Theatre won him international acclaim.
 
     He directed the Frankfurt Opera in a production of Schreker’s Der Schatzgräber, and gave the revival of Peter Grimes. With Iphigenie in Aulis, JONAS ALBER began a collaboration with the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg, following this production with Norma, Nabucco and Der Freischütz. He made his debut at the Berlin Opera with Carmina Burana, and at the Vienna Volksoper with Franz Schmidt's Notre Dame. In March 2007 JONAS ALBER conducted the world première of Benoît Mernier’s Frühlings Erwachen at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, in summer 2007 a highly acclaimed concert version of Fidelio with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. In March 2008 he conducted the world première of Mats Larsson Gothe's opera Poet & Prophetess at Norrlands Operan. He will conduct a second production of that work at Cape Town Opera in October 2008.