Thomas Zehetmair is one of the most significant violinists of his generation. He enjoys a successful international career thrilling audiences and critics with his abilities as a soloist, chamber musician and conductor. As violinist, Thomas Zehetmair is a regular guest of the most renowned European and American orchestras: e.g. the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic, Gewandhaus Leipzig Orchestra, the German radio symphony orchestras as well as the Nhk Tokyo Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra. Of particular note are his collaborations with Daniel Barenboim, Frans Brüggen, Christoph von Dohnanyi, John Eliot Gardiner, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Charles Mackerras, Kent Nagano, Paavo Järvi, Sir Simon Rattle, Esa Pekka Salonen and Jukka-Pekka Saraste. Besides his commitment to the standard violin repertoire, he dedicates a large part of his artistic activities to contemporary music. He has given a number of first performances, most recently the Violin Concerto written for him by Heinz Holliger and the violin concertos of James Dillon and Hans-Jürgen von Bose. In September 2008, he played the first performance of Hans Christian Bartel’s Violin Concerto as the soloist of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig under Herbert Blomstedt. More recently Thomas Zehetmair launched a second career as a conductor: since the 2002/03 season he has been Music Director of Northern Sinfonia. Diverse projects around the orchestra’s 50^th anniversary attested to this extraordinary relationship. Thomas Zehetmair opened the jubilee season 2008/09 with an extended Beethoven-cycle and closed it with the concert series “Dreams and Ceremonies” with contemporary compositions in its centre. Furthermore, Thomas Zehetmair and Northern Sinfonia have produced three highly successful recordings. Avie Records published a recording with Brahms’ Violin Concerto and Schumann’s Symphony no. 4 with Thomas Zehetmair in double function as soloist and conductor (Bbc Music Choice), as well as a Cd featuring Sibelius’ Symphonies no. 3 and no. 6 and Stravinsky’s Violin concerto D Major. Most recently, Nmc published Unknown Britten (Gramophone Editor’s Choice).
As a chamber musician, Thomas Zehetmair has collaborated with many distinguished colleagues such as Pierre-Laurent Aimard. In 1994 he formed the internationally highly acclaimed Zehetmair Quartet, with whom he has recorded string quartets by Hartmann, Hindemith, Bartók and Schumann on the Ecm New Series. Their recordings of Schumann string quartets received a Gramophone Award (Record of the Year) and the Diapason d’Or de l’Année. The latter has also been awarded to the quartet’s latest recording of string quartets by Bartók and Hindemith.
Thomas Zehetmair has recorded nearly the entire violin repertoire on Cd. His latest releases include the Holliger Violin Concerto (Swr Symphony Orchestra, Heinz Holliger), the Beethoven Triple Concerto (Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Nikolaus Harnoncourt) as well as B.A. Zimmermann’s Canto di speranza (Wdr Symphony Orchestra, Heinz Holliger), which was decorated with the Diapason d’Or. Furthermore, a Cd with live recordings of all of the five Mozart Violin Concertos and his Sinfonia concertante K. 364 has been published for the Glossa label (Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Frans Brüggen). His latest solo recording for Ecm with the 24 Capricci by Paganini has been included on the honour list of the German Record Critics’ Award and received the Midem Classic Award 2010.
In the 2010/11 season, Thomas Zehetmair will take up his position as Artistic Partner of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Moreover, he makes regular guest appearances with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Mdr Sinfonie Orchester Leipzig, Ensemble Orchestral Paris, the Hungarian National Orchestra, the Helsinki Rso as well as with the National Philharmonic Orchestra Warsaw, the Hallé Orchestra Manchester and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. He also maintains a close association with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century.
In 2005, Thomas 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.
He performed at Stresa Festival in 1981, 1996 and 2008.