Frank Peter Zimmermann

Frank Peter Zimmermann is widely regarded as one of the foremost violinists of his generation. Praised for his selfless musicality, his brilliance and keen intelligence he has been performing with all major orchestras in the world for well over three decades, 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, Asia, South America and Australia.

Highlights during the 2021/22 season include a residency with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and Jonathan Nott, as well as engagements with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and Klaus Mäkelä, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester and Manfred Honeck, the Bamberger Symphoniker and Jakub Hrůša and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Staatskapelle Berlin, both with Daniele Gatti.

With pianist Martin Helmchen he is performing the complete or partial Beethoven sonata cycle in various major cities in Europe. BIS Records has meanwhile released the complete cycle on 3 CDs.

In 2010 he formed the Trio Zimmermann with viola player Antoine Tamestit and cellist Christian Poltéra; the trio has been performing in all major music centres and festivals in Europe. BIS Records released award-winning CD recordings of works for string trio by J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Schoenberg and Hindemith.

Over the years Frank Peter Zimmermann has built up an impressive discography for EMI Classics, Sony Classical, BIS Records, hänssler CLASSIC, Ondine, Decca, Teldec Classics and ECM Records. He has recorded virtually all major concerto repertoire, ranging from Bach to Ligeti, as well as recital repertoire. Many of these highly acclaimed recordings have received prestigious awards and prizes worldwide. Most recent releases include the two violin concertos of Martinů with the Bamberger Symphoniker and Jakub Hrůša, coupled with the solo sonata of Bartók (BIS); the two violin concertos of Shostakovich with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester and Alan Gilbert (BIS; nominated for a Grammy Award); and the violin concertos of J.S. Bach with the Berliner Barock Solisten (hänssler CLASSIC). In September 2021 the Berliner Philharmoniker released a special CD on its own label with Mr. Zimmermann’s performances of the Bartók, Beethoven and Berg concertos under conductors Alan Gilbert, Daniel Harding and Kirill Petrenko resp.

He 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).

Mr. Zimmermann has given four world premieres: Magnus Lindberg’s violin concerto no. 2 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Jaap van Zweden (2015) with further performances with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, both under Daniel Harding and with the New York Philharmonic and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, both under Alan Gilbert. He also premiered the violin concerto “en sourdine” by Matthias Pintscher with the Berliner Philharmoniker 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).

Born in 1965 in Duisburg, Germany, Mr. Zimmermann started playing the violin when he was 5 years old, giving his first concert with orchestra at the age of 10. He studied with Valery Gradov, Saschko Gawriloff and Herman Krebbers.

Mr. Zimmermann plays on the 1711 Antonio Stradivari violin “Lady Inchiquin”, which is kindly provided by the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, “Kunst im Landesbesitz”.