Conductor
Thomas Sanderling grew up in St Petersburg, where his father, the celebrated conductor Kurt
Sanderling, was permanent conductor of the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. He graduated
from the Music School of the Leningrad Conservatory and went on to study conducting at the
Hochschule für Musik in East Berlin, becoming Music Director of the Halle Opera at 24 years old. By
his mid-twenties Sanderling was conducting in all East Germany's principal orchestras and opera
houses, including the Dresden Staatskapelle and the Leipzig Gewandhaus and won the Berlin Critic's
Prize for his opera performances at the Komische Oper Berlin. Sanderling's premiere recording of
Shostakovich's Michelangelo Suite directly lead to his becoming assistant to both Herbert von Karajan
and Leonard Bernstein. He went on to conduct extensively on the international stage, with orchestras
in North America including the National, Dallas, Baltimore and Vancouver Symphonies, in Europe with
the Royal Stockholm, Oslo and Helsinki Philharmonics, and in the UK the Philharmonia, the London
Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic. Sanderling is also a regular guest conductor of Radio
Orchestras in the UK, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
From the Ondine artist archive. Appointments and season references reflect the original biography.
In the early 1980s Sanderling became permanent guest conductor of the Deutsche Staatsoper
Unter Den Linden, which led to his successful debut at the Wiener Staatsoper, conducting Die
Zauberflöte. Immediately afterwards the Wiener Staatsoper invited him to conduct Le Nozze di Figaro
Sanderling has enjoyed a close relationship with Shostakovich and his family for many years and
still works in close collaboration with Irina Shostakovich. He originally met Dmitri Shostakovich whilst
making his Moscow debut, conducting the State Orchestra of Russia, on the invitation of Evgeny
Svetlanov, as a result of winning a conducting competition in East Germany. Greatly impressed,
Shostakovich entrusted him with the translation into German of the texts of the 13th and 14th
Symphonies and he conducted the German premieres of both works. Sanderling also conducted
the world premiere recording of the Michelangelo Suite followed by a concert of the premiere of Six
Romances on Verses of British Poets and Anglo-American folk Songs. He conducted two CD recordings
for Deutsche Grammophon of Shostakovich Premieres, which received high critical acclaim and which
became "The Editor's Choice" in The Gramophone magazine.
Dmitri Shostakovich
Gerald Finley, bass-baritone · Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra · Thomas Sanderling, conductor
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