Tonhalle-Orchestra Zurich
Orchestras
Since 1999, when the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich won the German Record Critics’ Prize for its seminal recording of the complete Beethoven symphonies, Switzerland’s oldest symphony orchestra has been then focus of considerable international attention, and well over a million Beethoven compact discs have been sold. Established in 1868, the orchestra quickly occupied a central position in the musical life of German-speaking Switzerland – particularly after 1895, when the new Tonhalle, one of the world’s best concert halls in terms of acoustics, was opened in Zurich. Famous chief conductors have had a decisive influence on the Tonhalle Orchestra, including Volkmar Andreae, Hans Rosbaud, Rudolf Kempe, Gerd Albrecht and Christoph Eschenbach. And the list of regular guest conductors is as illustrious as it is long, ranging from Ernest Ansermet, Karl Böhm, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Otto Klemperer and Rafael Kubelik to Carl Schuricht, Bruno Walter or Georg Solti; more recently, from Frans Brüggen, Ton Koopman and Charles Dutoit to Bernard Haitink, Marek Janowski, Mariss Jansons, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Mstislav Rostropovich, Kurt Sanderling, Herbert Blomstedt and Wolfgang Sawallisch.
Today the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich consists of just over 100 musicians and gives almost 100 concerts every season, featuring more than 50 different programmes. Guest performances in Switzerland, concert tours of the international musical centres of both the Old and the New Worlds, and especially numerous CD recordings – including orchestral works by Richard Strauss, the Schumann symphonies, all of Beethoven’s overtures and solo concertos and the Mahler symphonies – have success fully consolidated the orchestra’s excellent reputation among audiences and critics alike.
Credit Suisse and Mercedes-Benz are partners of the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich.
For further information on the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich,visit
SEASON 2009/2010
David Zinman
Born in New York, David Zinman initially trained at the Oberlin Conservatory and then at the University of Minnesota, which has since awarded him an honorary doctorate. While studying conducting at the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Tangle wood Music Center, he attracted the attention of Pierre Monteux, who arranged for Zinman’s first important performances with the London Symphony Orchestra and at the Holland Festival, to name but a few. Zinman was Chief Conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of the Netherlands, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, which developed into one of the most important American orchestras under his aegis. Zinman frequently conducts the renowned American orchestras and is regularly guest conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, the London Philharmonia Orchestra and the Munich Philharmonic, as well as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.
David Zinman has been Chief Conductor of the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich since the 1995–1996 season, and has under taken highly successful tours with the orchestra in Europe, the United States and Asia, as well as recording numerous compact discs. Their much lauded recording of the complete Beethoven symphonies won the coveted German Record Critics’ Award in 1999. The most recent prize was the 2006 Midem Classical Award in 2007 for the most outstanding recording of a solo concerto (Beethoven’s Violin Concerto) and 2008 the Midem Classical Award «Artist of the Year 2007». David Zinman was awarded the title of “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” by the French Ministry of Culture in May 2000. In 2002 he won the Art Prize of the City of Zurich, and in 2006 the Theodore Thomas Award, which is presented by the Conductors Guild every two years.
SAISON 2009/2010
