David Zinman

David Zinman’s tenures, first in Baltimore and now in Zürich, have been distinguished by his programming of an extraordinarily broad repertoire, his strong commitment to the performance of contemporary music and his introduction of historically informed performamce practice. He is in his thirteenth season as Music Director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, and in 1998 concluded a highly successful thirteen year tenure as Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, where he is now Conductor Emeritus. Since 1998 he has also been Music Director of the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he is also Program Director of the newly formed American Academy of Conducting.

Zinman has toured widely with many orchestras in Europe, North America and the Far East, consistently winning critical accolades. The 2005/06 season included a ten city tour of Japan with the Tonhalle, and they regularly perform together throughout Europe in the music centres of Berlin, Vienna, Frankfurt, London, Munich and Paris. On the Arte Nova label they have released an acclaimed Beethoven cycle, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Richard Strauss cycle, Robert Schumann’s symphonies, as well as Beethoven’s piano concerti and the Triple Concerto (with Gil Shaham, Truls Mørk and Yefim Bronfman). Over the coming years they are recording a Mahler cycle of all the symphonies with Nos 1 and 2 having already been released.

Since his American conducting début with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1967, David Zinman has conducted many of the world's leading orchestras. He has previously serves as Music Director of the Rochester Philharmonic (1974-85), Rotterdam Philharmonic (1979-82), Netherlands Chamber Orchestra (1964-77) and Artistic Director of the Minnesota Orchestra’s Viennese Sommerfest (1994-96). He has guest-conducted leading North American orchestras including Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia and the New York Philharmonic, and makes regular guest appearances with the American festivals. His engagements in Europe have included the Berlin Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Munich Philharmonic, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Westdeutscher Rundfunk, London and BBC Symphony Orchestras, the Philharmonia, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

David Zinman’s extensive discography of more than 100 recordings has earned numerous international honours, including five Grammy awards, two Grand Prix du Disque, two Edison Prizes, the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis and a Gramophone Award. Zinman was also the 1997 recipient of the prestigious Ditson Award from Columbia University, given in recognition of his exceptional commitment to the performance of works by American composers (many of which he has recorded in a series for Decca’s Argo label).

Born in 1936, David Zinman graduated from Oberlin Conservatory and pursued advanced work in composition at the University of Minnesota. Conducting studies at the Boston Symphony’s Tanglewood Music Center brought him to the attention of Pierre Monteux. Monteux introduced Zinman to his first prominent conducting opportunities with the London Symphony Orchestra and at the 1963 Holland Festival, where critics hailed Zinman as a major conducting discovery.

In 2000 the French Ministry of Culture awarded David Zinman the title of ‘Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres’ and in October 2002 the City of Zürich Art Prize was awarded to him for his outstanding artistic efforts, making him the first conductor and also the first recipient of this award not originally from Switzerland. More recently Zinman has received the prestigious Thomas Theodore award in recognition of outstanding achievement and extraordinary service to one's colleagues in advancing the art and science of conducting, reflecting honour on the profession. In 2008 he won the Midem Classical Award: Artist of the Year for his work with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich.