David Zinman (born July 9, 1936, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

, NY) is an American

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

and

violinist The following lists of violinists are available: * List of classical violinists, notable violinists from the baroque era onwards * List of contemporary classical violinists, notable contemporary classical violinists * List of violinist/compose ...

Education

After

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

studies at Oberlin Conservatory, Zinman studied theory and composition at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, earning his M.A. in 1963. He took up conducting at

Tanglewood Tanglewood is a music venue in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. Tanglewood is also home to three music schools: the ...

and from 1958 to 1962 worked in Maine with

Pierre Monteux Pierre Benjamin Monteux (; 4 April 18751 July 1964) was a French (later American) conducting, conductor. After violin and viola studies, and a decade as an orchestral player and occasional conductor, he began to receive regular conducting enga ...

; he served as Monteux's assistant from 1961 to 1964.

Career in the
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Zinman held the post of ''tweede dirigent'' (second conductor) of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra from 1965 to 1977 and was principal conductor of the

Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (RPhO; nl, Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest) is a Dutch symphony orchestra based in Rotterdam. Its primary venue is the concert hall De Doelen. The RPhO is considered one of the Netherlands' two principal or ...

from 1979 to 1982.

Career

In the United States

Zinman served as music director of the

Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is an American orchestra based in the city of Rochester, New York. Its primary concert venue is the Eastman Theatre at the Eastman School of Music. History George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak Compa ...

from 1974 to 1985, during the last two years of which tenure he also was principal guest conductor of the

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore SO has its principal residence at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, where it performs more than 130 concerts a year. In 2005, it bega ...

. He became music director in Baltimore in 1985. There he made several recordings for

Telarc Telarc International Corporation is an American audiophile independent record label founded in 1977 by two classically trained musicians and former teachers, Jack Renner and Robert Woods. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, the label has had a long associ ...

and Argo and

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

, toured widely, and began to implement ideas from the historically-informed-performance movement in interpretations of the Beethoven symphonies. Upon relinquishing that Baltimore post in 1998, Zinman was named the orchestra's conductor laureate. But he renounced this title three years later in protest at what he saw as the orchestra's increasingly conservative programming.

U.S. festivals

In 1998 Zinman worked as music director of the

Ojai Music Festival The Ojai Music Festival is an annual classical music festival in the United States. Held in Ojai, California (75 miles northwest of Los Angeles), for four days every June, the festival presents music, symposia, and educational programs emphasi ...

alongside pianist

Mitsuko Uchida is a classical pianist and conductor, born in Japan and naturalised in Britain, particularly noted for her interpretations of Mozart and Schubert. She has appeared with many notable orchestras, recorded a wide repertory with several labels, w ...

. That same year he was appointed music director of the

Aspen Music Festival and School The Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) is a European classical music, classical music festival held annually in Aspen, Colorado. It is noted both for its concert programming and the musical training it offers to mostly young-adult music stud ...

, where he founded and directed its American Academy of Conducting until his sudden resignation in April 2010.

Tenure in Switzerland

Zinman became music director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich in 1995. His innovative programming with that orchestra includes a series of late-night concerts, "Tonhalle Late", which combine classical music and a nightclub setting. His recordings for Arte Nova of the complete Beethoven symphonies were based on the new Jonathan Del Mar critical edition and was acclaimed by critics. He has subsequently recorded Beethoven overtures and concertos with the Tonhalle. He conducted the Tonhalle Orchestra in its first-ever appearance at

The Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert H ...

in 2003. He concluded his Tonhalle music directorship on July 21, 2014 with a concert at The Proms.

Filmscores

Zinman conducted the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

of the 1993 film of the

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company' ...

production of Tchaikovsky's ''

Nutcracker A nutcracker is a tool designed to open nuts by cracking their shells. There are many designs, including levers, screws, and ratchets. The lever version is also used for cracking lobster and crab shells. A decorative version portrays a person w ...

''. In 2009 he led the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich in the filmscore ''180°: If Your World Is Suddenly Upside-Down'', composed by the sibling trio Diego Baldenweg with Nora Baldenweg and Lionel Baldenweg; this won the Suisa prize for "Best Original Score" at the Locarno Film Festival in 2010.

Awards

In 2006 he received the Theodore Thomas Award presented by the Conductors' Guild.

Best-selling recording

Zinman's 1992 recording of

Henryk Górecki Henryk Mikołaj Górecki ( , ; 6 December 1933 – 12 November 2010) was a Polish composer of contemporary classical music. According to critic Alex Ross, no recent classical composer has had as much commercial success as Górecki. He became a ...

’s '' Symphony no.3'' with Dawn Upshaw and the London Sinfonietta was an international bestseller.

Personal life

Zinman and his second wife, Mary, an Australian violist, live in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

. Zinman has two sons and a daughter.

References

External links

* David Zinma
official website
* David Zinma
official Blog

David Zinman
at Art of the States *

at

Sony Classical Sony Classical is an American record label founded in 1924 as Columbia Masterworks Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Records. In 1980, the Columbia Masterworks label was renamed as CBS Masterworks Records. The CBS Records Group was acquired by ...

* *
Interview with David Zinman
February 11, 2000 Selected Discography Elgar- Enigma Variations/Cockaigne Overture (Baltimore Symphony Orchestra) Telarc 1989 {{DEFAULTSORT:Zinman, David 1936 births American male conductors (music) Aspen Music Festival and School faculty 20th-century American conductors (music) 21st-century American conductors (music) Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni Living people Oberlin College alumni University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts alumni Grammy Award winners Educators from New York City 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians