Born in 1965 in Duisburg, Germany, Frank Peter Zimmermann started playing the violin when he was five years old, giving his first concert with orchestra at the age of ten. After finishing his studies with Valery Gradov, Saschko Gawriloff and Herman Krebbers in 1983, Zimmermann has performed with all major orchestras in the world, collaborating with the world’s most renowned conductors. His many concert engagements take him to all major concert venues and international music festivals in Europe, the United States, Japan, South America and Australia.
Highlights during the 2011/12 season include residencies with the New York Philharmonic with conductors Alan Gilbert and Christoph von Dohnanyi, and the Bamberger Symphoniker with conductors Manfred Honeck and Jonathan Nott, and engagements with – among others - the Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Bernard Haitink, the Boston Symphony Orchestra/Juraj Valcuha, the Berliner Philharmoniker/Mariss Jansons, the Orchestre National de France/Daniele Gatti, the Filarmonica della Scala/Daniel Harding and concerts in Australia with the orchestras of Sydney and Melbourne.
Also an avid chamber musician and recitalist, Frank Peter Zimmermann gives numerous concerts worldwide and 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.
Frank Peter Zimmermann was awarded the Premio del Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Siena 1990. In April 1994 he received the important Rheinischer Kulturpreis 1994 and in October 2002 the Musikpreis of the city of Duisburg. In 2008 he received the “Bundesverdienstkreuz 1. Klasse der Bundesrepublik Deutschland”.
In recent years Sony Classical have released a number of new Cd recordings: the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto; the Bruch Violin Concerto no. 1; the Busoni Violin Concerto coupled with Busoni’s violin sonata no. 2 with pianist Enrico Pace; the six violin sonatas by J.S. Bach, again with Enrico Pace; and – in January 2009 - his recordings of the two Violin Concertos of Szymanowski and of Britten’s Violin Concerto. His second recording of the Sibelius Violin Concerto was released by the Ondine label in September 2010. In the past Frank Peter Zimmermann has recorded virtually all the major concerto repertoire for EMI Classics, ranging from Bach to Weill. On Teldec Classics he can be heard in Ligeti’s violin concerto. In 2006 ECM Records released his recording with Heinrich Schiff of duo works for violin and cello by Honegger, Martinu, J.S. Bach, Ravel and Pintscher. Many of above recordings have received prestigious awards and prizes worldwide.
Frank Peter Zimmermann plays a Stradivarius dated 1711, which once belonged to Fritz Kreisler, and which is kindly sponsored by the WestLB AG.
He performed at the Stresa Festival in 2001.