Jonathan Khuner

Jonathan Khuner, Musical Director of West Edge Opera since 1986 and its Artistic Director from 1994-2009, has led over 80 of their productions. He was prompter and assistant conductor at San Francisco Opera for 35 years, and frequently on the musical staff at The Metropolitan Opera and Chicago’s Lyric Opera, besides working internationally. He also frequently appears as vocal accompanist and has an active vocal coaching studio in Berkeley. Jonathan’s musical upbringing began by being strongly immersed in the bay area’s (especially UC Berkeley’s) contemporary performance scene, and he enjoys conducting recent opera, including particularly at West Edge’s yearly Snapshot program of new scenes in concert. On WEO’s main stage, this summer he will be conducting a double-bill of Stravinsky’s Rossignol and Schoenberg’s Erwartung. Modern operas he has led include: Lulu (Alban Berg), Sub Pontius Pilato (Erling Wold), End of the Affair (Jake Heggie), Middlemarch (Allen Shearer), Frankenstein (Libby Larsen), Arjuna’s Dilemma (Douglas Cuomo), and Breaking the Waves (Missy Mazzoli).