# Thomas Sanderling, Conductor

> Thomas Sanderling, Conductor – 1 recording on Ondine. Thomas Sanderling grew up in St Petersburg, where his father, the celebrated conductor Kurt Sanderling…

Source: https://ondine.eyelabel.com/artists/sanderling-thomas

- **Role:** Conductor
- **Photo:** © Tuomo Manninen

## Biography

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.

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

- the first performance after the death of the great Karl Böhm. Sanderling has won many prizes and is

particularly renowned for the German, Russian and French orchestral repertory.

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.

## Discography on Ondine (1)

- [Dmitri Shostakovich: Six Romances on Verses by English Poets, Op. 62a · Anne Laurie, Scottish Ballad · Suite on Poems by Michelangelo Buonarroti, Op. 145a](https://ondine.eyelabel.com/catalogue/ode-1235-2.md): Gerald Finley, bass-baritone · Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra · Thomas Sanderling, conductor (ODE 1235-2, 2014)