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 2019/20 season include engagements with the Berliner Philharmonier and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, both conducted by Daniel Harding, the LaFil Filarmonica di Milano and Daniele Gatti, the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich and Christoph von Dohnanyi, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester and Alan Gilbert, the Orchestre de Paris and Lahav Shani, the Wiener Symphoniker and François-Xavier Roth, the Bamberger Symphoniker and Jakub Hrůša, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and Susanna Mälkki and the Shanghai Symphony and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestras, both conducted by Long Yu. He will continue his Beethoven Sonata cycle with Martin Helmchen with concerts in among others Brussels and Madrid, as well as at the festivals of Bad Kissingen, Rheingau and Schlewsig-Holstein. 

Together with viola player Antoine Tamestit and cellist Christian Poltéra he forms the Trio Zimmermann; the trio performs in all major music centres and festivals in Europe. BIS Records has released award-winning CD recordings of works for string trio by Beethoven (Op. 3, Op. 8 and Op. 9), Mozart (Divertimento KV 563), Schubert (Trio, D 471), Schoenberg (Trio, op. 45) and Hindemith (Trios 1 and 2). May 2019 saw the release of the recording of the Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach. 

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).

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).

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 recordings have received prestigious awards and prizes worldwide. Most recent releases include violin concertos of J.S. Bach with the Berliner Barock Solisten (hänssler CLASSIC); the two violin concertos of Shostakovich with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester and Alan Gilbert (BIS Records) – this recording was nominated for a Grammy 2018 -; and the 5 violin concertos and Sinfonia Concertante of Mozart with the Kammerorchester des Symphonieorchesters des Bayerischen Rundfunks and Antoine Tamestit (hänssler CLASSIC).

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”.