Jonathan Stockhammer, born in Los Angeles in 1969, is one of the most versatile conductors of the younger generation. He has worked with orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, WDR Sinfonieorchester Cologne, Czech Philharmonic, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra; he has been a guest conductor at festivals such as the Donaueschinger Musiktage, Wien Modern, and the Salzburg Festival. Stockhammer is particularly involved with opera. In 2009, he conducted the premiere of Wolfgang Rihm’s Proserpina with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra. He is a regular guest at the Opéra de Lyon, where he conducted the French premiere of Pascal Dusapin’s Faustus, the Last Night, which he also conducted in the Théatre du Châtelet Paris and the Philharmonie Essen. Stockhammer has never felt himself confined to only one musical genre, as is demonstrated by a CD with Ensemble Modern featuring the music of Frank Zappa, as well as a recording of the new soundtrack for Eisenstein’s film Battleship Potemkin by and with the Pet Shop Boys. The recording of The New Crystal Silence, with Chick Corea, Gary Burton, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, which Stockhammer conducted, received a Grammy award in 2009.