About this Artist
Born in 1965 in Duisburg, Germany, FRANK PETER ZIMMERMANN started playing the violin when he was 5 years old, giving his first concert with orchestra at the age of 10. After finishing his studies with Valery Gradov, Saschko Gawriloff and Herman Krebbers in 1983, Frank Peter Zimmermann has been performing with all major orchestras in the world, collaborating on these occasions with the world's most renowned conductors. His many concert engagements take him to all important concert venues and international music festivals in Europe, the United States, Japan, South America and Australia.
He started the 2013/14 season with performances of the Brahms violin concerto with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich under David Zinman (Edinburgh Festival), the London Symphony Orchestra under Nikolaj Znaider (Grafenegg Festival) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Josep Pons (BBC Proms). As “artist-in- residence” of the Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich he will be giving a series of concerts throughout the season with conductors David Zinman and Christoph von Dohnanyi, as well as giving a recital with Enrico Pace and a concert with his Trio Zimmermann. Other highlights include appearances with the Berlin Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Mariss Jansons, the NHK Symphony and Staatskapelle Dresden, both under Herbert Blomstedt, the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Manfred Honeck, the Czech Philharmonic under Jiří Bělohlávek and the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig under Jukka- Pekka Saraste. He will also be undertaking two European tours with the Trio Zimmermann and give a series of recitals with Enrico Pace in Europe and Japan.
During the 2012/13 season he joined the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and Daniele Gatti as soloist during their summer festival tour. Further highlights included performances with the Vienna Philharmonic and Cleveland Orchestra, both under Franz Welser-Möst, the New York Philharmonic under Andrey Boreyko, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Orchestre de Paris, both under Paavo Järvi and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and Philharmonia Orchestra, both under Esa-Pekka Salonen.
Mr. Zimmermann has given world premieres of three violin concertos: the violin concerto “en sourdine” by Matthias Pintscher with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Peter Eötvös (2003), the violin concerto “The Lost Art of Letter Writing” by Brett Dean, who received the 2009 Grawemeyer Award for this composition, with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by the composer (2007) and the violin concerto no. 3 “Juggler in Paradise” by Augusta Read Thomas with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Andrey Boreyko (2009).
Also an avid chamber musician and recitalist, Mr. Zimmermann gives numerous concerts worldwide. His interpretations of the classical, romantic and 20th Century repertoire are received with great critical acclaim from press and public alike. His regular recital partners are pianists Piotr Anderzewski, Enrico Pace and Emanuel Ax.
Together with viola player Antoine Tamestit and cellist Christian Poltéra he forms the Trio Zimmermann; the string trio performs in among others Amsterdam, Brussels, Cologne, London, Lyon, Milan, Munich, Paris and Vienna, as well as during the festivals in Salzburg and Edinburgh. In 2010 and in 2011 BIS Records released two CD recordings with works for string trio by Beethoven (Trio’s, Op. 9), Mozart (Divertimento KV563) and Schubert (Trio, D 471).
Mr. Zimmermann received a number of special prizes and honours, among which the “Premio del Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Siena” (1990), the “Rheinischer Kulturpreis” (1994), the “Musikpreis” of the city of Duisburg (2002), the “Bundesverdienstkreuz 1. Klasse der Bundesrepublik Deutschland” (2008) and the “Paul-Hindemith-Preis der Stadt Hanau” (2010).
Over the years he has built up an impressive discography for EMI Classics, Sony Classical, BIS, Ondine, Teldec Classics and ECM Records. He has recorded virtually all major concerto repertoire, ranging from Bach to Ligeti, as well as many works from the recital repertoire. Many of these recordings have received prestigious awards and prizes worldwide.
In May 2013 BIS released his highly praised recording of the Hindemith violin concerto (1939), which he performs with the hr-Sinfonieorchester under Paavo Järvi, and of four sonatas by the same composer (three of which together with pianist Enrico Pace).
Frank Peter Zimmermann plays a Stradivarius from 1711, which once belonged to Fritz Kreisler, and which is kindly sponsored by Portigon AG.