Jonathan Nott achieved success as a conductor in rather unusual fashion: with no competition victories under his belt and no mentoring conductor ushering him along, he launched his career in foreign opera houses, eventually conducting orchestral concerts on the side, but often with modern or contemporary works on the bill. Nott developed a reputation for his interpretations of avant-garde music, making a recording early in his career (1996) for BIS that contained works by Xenakis, Berio, and Fornés. In the new century, Nott has been drawing praise for his Schubert, Mahler, and Mozart and his operatic readings of Verdi, Puccini, and other notables. As of early 2024, Nott was the music director of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the principal conductor and artistic advisor of the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, and the music and artistic director of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.