Thomas Zehetmair
Introduction
Thomas Zehetmair is one of today’s most outstanding artistic personalities. As violinist as well as conductor and chamber musician he enjoys a high reputation worldwide. His international career as conductor is driven by two positions in particular: Music Director of Northern Sinfonia in England and Artistic Partner of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, USA. In September 2011 Thomas Zehetmair was appointed to Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor by the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris (formerly Ensemble Orchestral de Paris), starting in season 2012/2013.
Thomas Zehetmair has made a vast amount of successful recordings. He has recorded nearly the entire violin repertoire as well as several discs as conductor and chamber musician. A number of these recordings have received multiple internationally recognised awards, including three Gramophone Awards.
In the 2011/12 season, Thomas Zehetmair makes his debut as conductor at the Salzburg Festival. His season also includes concerts with the Symphony Orchestra of the Bayerische Rundfunk, Orchestre National de Lyon, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Radio Symphony Orchestra Helsinki as well as a tour throughout Spain with the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris. As violinist Thomas Zehetmair will appear at the most renowned European music centres such as the Royal Festival Hall London, Konzerthaus Vienna and the Philharmonie Munich.
Biography
Thomas Zehetmair is one of today’s most outstanding artistic personalities. As violinist as well as conductor and chamber musician he is highly regarded worldwide. His international career as conductor is driven by two positions in particular: Music Director of the Northern Sinfonia in England and Artistic Partner of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, USA. Concert tours with the Northern Sinfonia have led him to the Hong Kong Festival, to the Netherlands, to Scandinavia and Germany. Furthermore, Thomas Zehetmair and the Northern Sinfonia have released the following successful recordings for Avie Records: Brahms’ Violin concerto and Schumann’s Symphony no. 4 with Thomas Zehetmair in double function as soloist and conductor, a CD with Sibelius’ Symphonies 3 and 6, Stravinsky’s Violin concerto D Major as well as a recording of Schubert’s Symphony No. 6 and Gál’s Symphony No. 1 released in April 2011. In September 2011 Thomas Zehetmair was appointed to Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor by the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris (formerly Ensemble Orchestral de Paris), starting in season 2012/2013.
Thomas Zehetmair has recorded nearly the entire violin repertoire and a number of his CDs have been multiply decorated. His latest CD releases include B. A. Zimmermann’s “Canto di speranza” with the WDR Symphony Orchestra under Heinz Holliger (“Diapason d’Or de l’Année”), the 24 Capricci by Paganini (honory list of the German Record Critics’ Award, Midem Classic Award 2010), Elgar’s Violin concerto with the Hallé Orchestra Manchester under Mark Elder (Gramophone Award 2010) as well as Mozart’s Violin concertos with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century under Frans Brüggen, referred to as a reference recording. Most recently, in March 2011, ECM published the recording “Manto and Madrigal” on which Thomas Zehetmair and his duo partner Ruth Killius explore modern and contemporary repertoire for violin and viola.
Since the beginning of the season 2010/11 Thomas Zehetmair has held the position of Artistic Partner of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Furthermore, he regularly works as guest conductor with orchestras such as the Hungarian National Orchestra, National Philharmonic Orchestra Warsaw, Hallé Orchestra Manchester, Camerata Salzburg, and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.
His 2011/12 season includes concerts with the Symphony Orchestra of the Bayerische Rundfunk, Orchestre National de Lyon, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Radio Symphony Orchestra Helsinki as well as a tour throughout Spain with the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris. As violinist Thomas Zehetmair will appear at the most renowned European music centres such as the Royal Festival Hall London, Konzerthaus Vienna and the Philharmonie Munich.
In 2005, Thomas Zehetmair was honoured with the German Record Critics’ Award for his versatile artistic work as soloist, conductor and chamber musician. In 2007 he was awarded the “Karl-Böhm Interpretation Award” of the Austrian State Steiermark during a ceremony at Graz Castle. The laudation was presented by Heinz Holliger.
Thomas Zehetmair holds an honorary doctorate from the Music Academy Franz Liszt in Weimar.
For further information about Thomas Zehetmair's projects with the Northern Sinfonia please visit the homepage www.thesagegateshead.org/sinfonia/index.aspx.
Press Reviews
Concert Reviews:
"it was a true celebration of both Zehetmair’s instinctive understanding of Schubert, and the intimate and creative energies that he has kindled within the ensemble...the opening movement was played out with a hushed and sustained reticence, as though each player were confiding one with the other, with their conductor, and with us".
The Times, 29 April 2012
Northern Sinfonia
"Under Zehetmair, the orchestra sounded at its best, playing with precision and passion, rising to a mighty apotheosis in the finale."
Mineapolis Star Tribune, 6 April 2012
St Paul Chamber Orchestra
"Zehetmair's approach to Schubert's Third is infused with wonder...The details are dazzling, violas and second violins giddy in the teeth-chattering quavers of the last Allegro, the intelligence and wit of the cello section captivating throughout."
The Independent on Sunday, 11 December 2011.
Northern Sinfonia.
"An overdue concerto performance came on a gripping, haunting work by Karl Amadeus Hartmann, a 20th-century German composer who packed much of his sadness and anger at the Nazi government into his "Concerto funebre." It proved a tour de force for Zehetmair, especially during an aggressive, panic-laden third movement and a closing Chorale that sang out like the saddest soprano aria that you've ever heard in an opera house."
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Rob Hubbard, Pioneer Press, 15 June 2011.
"Artistic Partner Thomas Zehetmair conducted with passion, driving the music dramatically, creating a sense of devastation and mourning in the orchestra's dissonances. As soloist, he made the most of the violin's anguished utterances in his raw, uninhibited playing."
'Concerto funèbre', Hartmann, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. William Randall Beard, Star Tribune, June 10, 2011.
"Works from 1765 and 1794 were delivered with equal amounts of enthusiasm and exceptional musicianship....one can safely say that Zehetmair and the SPCO are bringing the passionate Haydn out of hiding." St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Rob Hubbard, Pioneer Press, 3 June 2011.
"Thank goodness the SPCO's newest artistic partner - Austrian violinist and conductor Thomas Zehetmair - advocates for intensity, judging from the involving "Emperor" String Quartet that opened the program and the thrilling interpretation of the composer's 99th Symphony that concluded it....a wonderfully passionate performance."
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Rob Hubbard, Pioneer Press, 27 May 2011.
"Throughout this week's diverse program Zehetmair demonstrated what an asset he is as an artistic partner. The highlight of the program was an exhilarating performance of Haydn's String Quartet in C, "Emperor"....Zehetmair, as first violin, was ably partnered by violinist Ruggero Allifranchini, violist Maiya Papach and cellist Robert DeMaine. They played with robust passion, but also gentle delicacy, sensitive to every nuance of the music and their collaboration. This was a performance that enlivened the spirit."
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. William Randall Beard, Star Tribune, 27 May 2011.
"Mr. Zehetmair’s sound was so kaleidoscopic, and his attention to dynamics, tempos and varieties of articulation were so thorough, that you barely thought about the limitations of a single, unaccompanied fiddle."
The Frick Collection. Allan Kozinn, The New york Times, 23 May 2011.
“Thomas Zehetmair’s direction of both Mozart pieces was wonderfully paced, particularly excelling in the youthful joie de vivre of the music but combining that with well phrased lyricism.”
Northern Sinfonia, The Sage Gateshead. Seen and Heard, January 2011
“Zehetmair soon entered the trance-like state in which he made the dual role of conductor and soloist seem effortless…Where some commentators detect naivety, he finds fierce originality of expression.”
The Hallé, Bridgewater Hall. The Guardian, 21st January 2011
“Thomas Zehetmair is a scintillating violinist and an inspired conductor, and is never more compelling than when doing both at the same time…he closed his eyes and conducted with his shoulders, or possibly by telepathy, so intuitive has his relationship with this ensemble become.”
Northern Sinfonia, The Sage Gateshead. The Guardian, November 2010.
"One of Beethoven's latest, most uncompromising works, the fiendishly complex double fugue was initially condemned as practically impossible to play; and there were points along the vertiginous, hairpin ascent when the Northern Sinfonia came perilously close to the edge. But Zehetmair exerted a stunning command to keep everything on course."
Northern Sinfonia, The Sage Gateshead. The Guardian, September 27 2010
"the iconoclastic violinist Thomas Zehetmair enlivened the solo line with an approach that acknowledged the expansive lyricism of Beethoven’s soaring themes but also used gritty, textured attacks and incisive phrasing to amplify the music’s earthier qualities."
London Philharmonic Orchestra. New York Times March 2010.
“Particularly impressive was Zehetmair’s precise construction of the slow movement, which builds up into a towering edifice of sound that suddenly collapses, leaving a mournful cello.”
Northern Sinfonia, The Sage Gateshead. The Guardian, January 17 2010.
“Thomas Zehetmair played with his usual authority and dexterity in Zimmermann’s Violin Concerto, followed by the Schumann Fantasie for violin and orchestra. They were mastered with superiority by Thomas Zehetmair.”
Berliner Philharmoniker. Berliner Morgenpost, March 2009.
“The embraces between conductor Thomas Zehetmair and members of the Northern Sinfonia at the end of their journey through all nine Beethoven symphonies showed just what a rapport they have forged…and there have been compelling performances; driven, dramatic and intense, punctuated by episodes of tender lyricism, but played with almost unfailing brilliance and clarity of intention from Zehetmair.”
Northern Sinfonia. The Journal, October 2008.
“…a quirky mixture of virtuoso bravado – the allegros scintillatingly mercurial – and improvisatory freedom. Zehetmair’s volatile mood changes, bold tempo variations and sometimes wilful roughness all created a sense of familiar music minted afresh.”
Beethoven Violin Concerto, Northern Sinfonia. The Times, October 2008.
"Thomas Zehetmair went all out for rapture and rhapsody…It was music making the way only Zehetmair could do it; and that comes as close to a definition of what being a concerto soloist is all about.
Elgar Violin Concerto, Hallé Orchestra. The Telegraph, May 2008
Recording reviews:
“I can’t imagine the work’s being performed much better than this; Zehetmair and his band obviously know it backward and forward, and they play the heck out of it. You’d think it was a repertoire standard, not a first recording.”
GÁL Symphony No. 1 & SCHUBERT Symphony No. 6, Northern Sinfonia,
Avie AV2224. San Francisco Classical Voice, June 2011.
"Schubert’s Sixth, his "Little C Major", offers all the pleasures of his Ninth Symphony, in about half the time....Thomas Zehetmair’s reading accentuates the occasional touches of drama – listen to the furious outburst just before the first movement’s coda. But it’s beautifully articulated and full of fun. Playing and recording are faultless."
GÁL Symphony No. 1 & SCHUBERT Symphony No. 6, Northern Sinfonia, Avie AV2224. Graham Rickson, The Arts Desk, 11 June 2011
"The distinguishing feature of Zehetmair’s Schubert Six is its tremendous rhythmic charge... the Allegro main section of the first movement and the Presto outer panels of the Scherzo have an exhilarating edge and strength…Add the crispness of the chamber-orchestral textures of the Northern Sinfonia and you have an account of the work which is idiosyncratic in its extremes of energy and repose but which, by that very token, tells you something new about the music."
GÁL Symphony No. 1 & SCHUBERT Symphony No. 6, Northern Sinfonia, Avie AV2224. Martin Anderson, The Classical Review, 6 June 2011.
“Throughout, Thomas Zehetmair elicits razor-sharp, sensitively shaped playing from the Northern Sinfonia”
Britten Unknown. Gramophone Magazine ‘Disc of the Month’. October 2009.
“Zehetmair brings all his love of danger and modernity to Paganini’s 24 Caprices for solo violin…Zeehtmair is Vulcan, the god of fire”
Paganini Capricci. Times Online September 2009
“Directing the orchestra from his violin in this performance, Zehetmair is back on his nimble bicycle: the violin skips happily through hedgerows of fanciful themes to the accompaniment of oom-pah-pah brass in the opening Toccata. All the while his orchestra is with him. With this characterful playing, the concerto will seem like your friend in no time.”
Sibelius Symphonies 3 & 6 and Stravinsky Violin Concerto. Classic FM Magazine, August 2009.
“Soloist and director Thomas Zehetmair delivers a pristine performance with scant vibrato and arrestingly tight articulation.”
Sibelius Symphonies 3 & 6 and Stravinsky Violin Concerto. Independent on Sunday, June 2009.
“Stravinsky’s kaleidoscopic concerto of 1931, with its rhythmic thrust and counterthrust, does the job well, especially given the conductor-come-soloist Thomas Zehetmair’s taut, precisely coloured and articulated reading and the extraordinarily alert response of the excellent Northern Sinfonia. Their wind and brass players, especially, rise to the occasion.”
Sibelius Symphonies 3 & 6 and Stravinsky Violin Concerto. The Sunday Times, 31 May 2009
Discography
Most recent releases
Franz Schubert & Hans Gàl
'Kindred Spirits' (2011)
With Northern Sinfonia
Avie 2225
Manto and Madrigals
Kilius: Ó min flaskan friða
Scelsi: Manto
Holliger: Drei Skizzen
Bartók: Duo
Skalkottas: Duo
Davies: Midhouse Air
Nied: Zugabe
Ruth Killius (viola, voice)
ECM New Series 2150 (2009)
B. A. Zimmermann: Canto di speranza. Konzert. Ich wandte mich und sah an alles Unrecht, das geschah unter der Sonne.
Symphony Orchestra of WDR Cologne,
Heinz Holliger
ECM 4766885
Awarded the Diapason d'Or de l'Année
E. Elgar: Violin concerto B Minor op. 61
Hallé Orchestra Manchester, Sir Mark Elder
Hallé Concerts Society
Awarded a Gramaphone Award 2010
W. A. Mozart: Violin concertos no. 1-5
Sinfonia Concertante E flat Major K 364
Ruth Killius (viola)
Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century,
Frans Brüggen
live-recordings from Brazil and the Netherlands
GCD 921108
B. Britten: "Unknown Britten“
Conductor: Thomas Zehetmair
Northern Sinfonia
NMC Recordings
Gramophone Editor's Choice
Paganini Capricci for solo violin
ECM 2124 (2009)
Awarded a Midem Award 2010
Sibelius Symphony No 3 Op 52 C Major
Strawinsky Concert for violin and orchestra D Major
Sibelius Symphony No 6 Op 104 D Minor
Soloist and conductor: Thomas Zehetmair
With Northern Sinfonia
Avie AV 2150
Brahms Concert for violin and orchestra Op 77 in D Major
Schumann Symphony No 4 in D Minor
Soloist and conductor: Thomas Zehetmair
With Northern Sinfonia
Avie AV 2125 Northern Sinfonia
Contact
UK, North America, Netherlands
General Management: Astrid Schoerke Kunstlersekretariat
