Stefan Sanderling (born 2 August 1964 in

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

) is an

orchestral An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, a ...

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

. He is the son of the conductor

Kurt Sanderling Kurt Sanderling, CBE (; 19 September 1912 – 18 September 2011) was a German conductor. Early life and career Sanderling was born in Arys, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire (now Orzysz, Poland) to Jewish parents. His early work at the Deuts ...

and the

double-bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched chordophone in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions such as the octobass). It has ...

player Barbara Sanderling. His half-brother is the conductor Thomas Sanderling. His brother Michael Sanderling is a cellist and conductor. In his youth, Sanderling played the

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

and

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

. His early university experience was in Halle,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. At the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute, Sanderling studied with the conductors

Leonard Slatkin Leonard Edward Slatkin (born September 1, 1944) is an American conductor, author and composer. Early life and education Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a Jewish musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His fat ...

Yuri Temirkanov Yuri Khatuevich Temirkanov (; ; 10 December 1938 – 2 November 2023) was a Soviet and Russian conductor, named a People's Artist of the USSR. Early life Born in 1938 in the North Caucasus city of Nalchik, Temirkanov attended the Saint Petersburg ...

Edo de Waart Edo de Waart (born 1 June 1941, Amsterdam) is a Dutch retired conductor. He is Music Director Laureate of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. De Waart is the former music director of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (2016-2019), chief conductor ...

and John Nelson. He later attended the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

Thornton School of Music The USC Thornton School of Music is a private music school in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1884 only four years after the University of Southern California, the Thornton School is the oldest continually operating arts institution in Los An ...

and studied with Daniel Lewis. He also studied with

Kurt Masur Kurt Masur (; 18 July 192719 December 2015) was a German Conducting, conductor. Called "one of the last old-style maestros", he directed many of the principal orchestras of his era. He had a long career as the Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewand ...

at the

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

conservatory. Sanderling's first professional position was in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

. In addition, he has been the Music Director of the Staatstheater and the

Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Mainz The Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Mainz (literally: Philharmonic State Orchestra of Mainz), is the resident orchestra of the Staatstheater Mainz. In addition to musical theatre and Tanztheater, youth symphony and chamber concerts are part of ...

(Philharmonic Orchestra). In 1996, he became chief conductor of the Orchestre de Bretagne and served in this capacity until the end of the 2003-2004 season. In the US, Sanderling was appointed the Music Director of the

Florida Orchestra The Florida Orchestra is an American orchestra based in the tri-city area of Tampa, Clearwater and St. Petersburg, Florida. It was founded as the Florida Gulf Coast Symphony upon the 1968 merger of the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra and the T ...

in May 2002, and he officially assumed this position in the 2003-2004 season. In June 2006, Sanderling extended his contract with the Florida Orchestra through the 2010-2011 season. His contract had been further extended through the 2013-2014 season, at which point he was scheduled to conclude his Florida Orchestra tenure. There were reports of conflict between Sanderling and the orchestra management, regarding finances and programming, as factors in his departure. However, in June 2012, the orchestra announced the early conclusion of Sanderling's Florida Orchestra tenure after the 2011-2012 season. His final appearance with the orchestra was in May 2014. In the US, Sanderling became principal guest conductor of the Toledo Symphony Orchestra in 2002, with an initial two-year contract. The orchestra subsequently elevated his title to principal conductor, and he held this post through the 2016-2017 season. Sanderling conducted the Toledo Symphony Orchestra in its

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

debut in May 2011, as part of the 'Spring for Music' festival. Sanderling became music director of the

Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra The Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is an American orchestra, and the resident summer orchestra of the Chautauqua Institution in western New York State. Founded in , the ensemble plays concerts on most Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday nights ...

at the start of the 2008 summer season, a post he held until 2011. Sanderling is married to the cellist Isabelle Besançon, who formerly played in the Orchestre de Bretagne, where they met. They were married in November 2002. On 31 December 2002, there was an incident at the

Raymond James Stadium Raymond James Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Tampa, Florida, United States. It opened in 1998 and is home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL) and the University of South Florida (USF) Bulls college football ...

where the couple was supposed to meet the Tampa businessman David Harbert at an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

game, as guests. A security guard stopped Besançon from entering the stadium because of her oversized purse, a consequence of heightened security concerns after the

11 September 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. The incident escalated because a security guard was reported to have stated that he "couldn't risk letting the couple inside because they were foreigners". The matter resolved in a letter of apology from Barbara Casey, director of communications for the Tampa Sports Authority, to Sanderling. In September 2015, Sanderling was named the next chief conductor of the Liechtenstein Symphony Orchestra, effective with the 2016-2017 season.

References

External links

Biography from The Toledo Symphony Orchestra
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanderling, Stefan 1964 births Living people German male conductors (music) USC Thornton School of Music alumni German expatriates in the United States German people of Jewish descent Musicians from Berlin 20th-century German conductors (music) 21st-century German conductors (music) 20th-century German male musicians 21st-century German male musicians Stefan