Frank Peter Zimmermann

Frank Peter Zimmermann was born in Duisburg -Germany- in 1965. He started playing the violin when he was six and gave his first concert with an orchestra at the age of ten.

Since finishing his studies with Valery Gradov, Saschko Gawriloff and Herman Krebbers in 1983, Frank Peter Zimmermann has performed with the best orchestras in the world and collaborated with the most famous conductors. His engagements, in recitals as well as with orchestras, have taken him to play at the most prestigious halls and festivals in Europe, the United States, Japan, South America and Australia.

His projects for the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 seasons include the following: with the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Bernard Haitink, the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Markus Stenz, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under the conduction of Bernard Haitink -Lucerne Festival-, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Pierre Boulez -including a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York-, the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Harding, the NDR Sinfonieorchester of Hamburg under the baton of Christoph von Dohnanyi -including a tour of China-, the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Christoph von Dohnanyi, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Manfred Honeck, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Myung-Whun Chung, the Staatskapelle Dresden under the conduction of Fabio Luisi and the Wiener Philharmoniker under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. In December 2007, he embarked on a tour of Australia and Japan that included, amongst others, performances with the NHK, the Sydney and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestras.

In January 2009, Frank Peter Zimmermann offered the world premiere of American composer Augusta Read Thomas' Violin Concerto with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in Paris. Prior to this, he had already premiered Brett Dean's Violin Concerto "The Lost Art of Letter Writing" with the Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, conducted by the composer in 2007, and Matthias Pintscher's Violin Concerto ‘en sourdine' with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Peter Eötvös (2003).

Frank Peter Zimmermann is also an avid chamber musician, and offers numerous recitals throughout the world every season. His performances of the Classical, Romantic and 20th-century repertoire are widely acclaimed by both the press and the public.

His usual partners in the field of chamber music are pianists Enrico Pace and Christian Zacharias, and cellist Heinrich Schiff. In July 2007, he performed, together with pianist Emanuel Ax, a programme dedicated to L. van Beethoven at numerous summer festivals in Germany. With pianist Piotr Anderszewski, he will offer recitals in Brussels, Munich and several Spanish cities in April 2009.

During the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 seasons, he is involved in numerous projects with his newly formed string trio, joined by viola player Antoine Tamestit and cellist Christian Poltéra. Amongst other cities, they will visit Amsterdam, Antwerp, Cologne, London, Milan, Munich and Paris.

Frank Peter Zimmermann received the ‘Premio dell'Accademia Musicale Chi­giana, Siena' in 1990. In April 1994, he was awarded the prestigious ‘In Rheinischer Kulturpreis 1994' and, in October 2002, the Musikpreis from the city of Duisburg. In January 2008, he was granted the Bundesverdienstkreuz First Class from the Federal Republic of Germany.

His recordings for EMI Classics include concerts from the most varied repertoires, which span from J.S. Bach to K. Weill, as well as various recital pieces. His recordings for Teldec Classics include G. Ligeti's Violin Concerto with the Asko Ensemble and Reinbert de Leeuw.

With Sony Classical, he recorded P.I. Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with the Oslo-Filharmonien under the conduction of Manfred Honeck, M. Bruch's Concerto no. 1 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Paavo Berglund and F. Busoni's Violin Concerto with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI and John Storgards; this work was accompanied by the same composer's Violin Sonata no. 2, played with pianist Enrico Pace. More recently, he recorded Bach's six violin sonatas, once again with Enrico Pace, for Sony. Many of these recordings have received prestigious awards throughout the world. Frank Peter Zimmermann also recorded, with Heinrich Schiff, A. Honegger's, B. Martinů's, Bach's, M. Ravel's and Pintscher's duets for violin and cello for the label ECM Records.

Frank Peter Zimmermann plays a Stradivarius dated from 1711, which belonged to Fritz Kreisler, sponsored by WestLB AG.