Born in Offenburg, West Germany, Jonas Alber studied violin and conducting at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg, where he was a student of Nicolas Chumachenco.
He later attended the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna, where he studied conducting under Leopold Hager and Karl Österreicher, and qualified as a conductor.
Following his work at the Staatstheater Braunschweig, Alber became known for his guest conducting appearances with leading orchestras and opera companies in Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia, and at prestigious music festivals.
In 2007, Alber conducted the world premiere of Benoît Mernier’s opera, Frühlings Erwachen, at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels.
Among his other operatic conducting performances include Tiefland by Eugen d’Albert; Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten; The Makropulos Case by Leoš Janáček; Carmina Burana by Carl Orff; Notre Dame by Franz Schmidt; Der Schatzgräber by Franz Schreker; Der Kaiser von Atlantis by Viktor Ullmann; and Mona Lisa by Max von Schillings.
Alber has worked with soloists Radek Baborák, Isabelle Faust, Martin Fröst, Sol Gabetta, Natalia Gutman, Håkan Hardenberger, Shlomo Mintz, Igor Oistrach, Steven Osborne and Maxim Rysanov.