THOMAS SANDERLING - CONDUCTOR

Thomas Sanderling, conductor
Thomas Sanderling was Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Novosibirsk Philharmonic Orchestra from Summer 2017 until March 2022.
Grew up in St. Petersburg, where his father - the eminent conductor Kurt Sanderling - was permanent conductor of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Thomas Sanderling was appointed Music Director of the Halle Opera at the age of 24. By his mid-twenties, Sanderling was already conducting and appreciated by Dresden Staatskapelle, the Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig and at the Komische Oper Berlin.
His premiere recording of Shostakovich’s last orchestral work Michelangelo Suite (orchestral accompaniment version, with Hermann Christian Polster (bass) and Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra) led Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein to using him as assistant in several projects.
In the early 1980s, Sanderling became permanent guest conductor of the Deutsche Staatsoper, and made his debut at the Wiener Staatsoper conducting Die Zauberflöte (“A Mozart full of mysteries...Astonishing!”, Wiener Kurier) and Le Nozze di Figaro. He has won many prizes – including an OPUS KLASSIK Award for his recording of Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Thomas Sanderling has conducted many of the world’s finest orchestras and opera companies, including the Baltimore Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, The Hallé Manchester, NDR Elbphilharmonie, Oslo Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra London, Pittsburgh Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, St Petersburg Philharmonic, WDR Symphony, London Philharmonic and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper, Hamburg State Opera, Mariinsky Theatre, Finnish National Opera and Teatro La Fenice.
He has recorded for many labels including DGG (Shostakovich Gramophone Editor’s Choice), BIS ( 2 Cannes Classical Awards) and Chandos. His recording for Sony Classical was CD of the Month in several CD Magazines in Tokyo (Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev 2 Violin Concertos with Mayuko Kamio and the Hallé Manchester). His recording of Mahler’s Symphony No 6 with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic became a reference recording at Tony Duggan’s Critical Survey of Mahler CDs and won another Cannes Classical Award. His recording of Brahms’s Complete Symphonies with the Philharmonia Orchestra London earned wide praises internationally.
Also, Sanderling has actively recorded the works by Albéric Magnard, Karl Weigl, Paul Kletzki, Taneyev and others.
Thomas Sanderling had a successful Moscow debut concert, conducting the State Orchestra of Russia at the invitation of Evgeny Svetlanov. In this concert Shostakovich was present. Greatly impressed he visited young Thomas Sanderling backstage. He invited him home, where Shostakovich handed him over the scores of his 13th and 14th Symphonies and entrusted Sanderling with the German Premiers. For those performances Shostakovich requested Sanderling to make text translation into German.
He enjoyed a close relationship with Dmitri Shostakovich for many years, and still works in close collaboration with his widow Irina Shostakovich. The first orchestral version of Six Romances on Verses by W. Raleigh, R. Burns and W. Shakespeare were believed to be lost, but recently they were found. And Irina gave the copy of the manuscript to Thomas. She asked him to make the world premiere. Sanderling conducted the world premiere of this “Six Romances on Verses by English Poets“ - first orchestration for a full orchestra” (op.62a) in Englishtextversionseditedbyhimandalsopremieredthe “SuiteonVersesbyMichelangelo” in Italian text versions with the Helsinki Philharmonic and Gerald Finley (bass-baritone). And this Live recording of world premiere performances received The Pizzicato Supersonic Award and several other top rating internationally.
Prior to these premieres Sanderling conducted the world premieres in his Original English text versions of this Six Romances with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in the later second orchestration (op.62/140) and the English Folksongs. At this concert he also performed Shostakovich’s 10th Symphony. This concert was recorded and broadcasted many times.
And recently Thomas Sanderling premiered together with the Dresden Staatskapelle at the ShostakovichFestival,alsorecentlyfound,3brilliantFragmentsfromthetimeofthe “NOSE”, finally reconstructed by Thomas Sanderling from the manuscript given to him by composer’s widow Irina
In these years, Thomas Sanderling has worked on numbers of Weinberg's works. (Shostakovich befriended Weinberg.)The world premiere of “Requiem” with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2013 he conducted the world premiere of the last opera “The Idiot” at the National Theater Mannheim. In the 2015/16 season he conducted the Russian premiere of this opera at the Mariinsky in St. Petersburgh. With Stuttgart State Orchestra “Symphony No. 21, German premiere. Some successful German premieres with the Dresden Staatskapelle for example “Symphony No.7” in addition.

Recent highlights have included a special concert with the Deutsches Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin on 6 October 2021 to mark the 80th Anniversary of the Babyn Yar massacre; an acclaimed recording of Stravinsky and Sibelius for Accentus with the Philharmonia Orchestra (International Classical Music Awards 2019 Nomination); a return to Osaka Symphony Orchestra (he is the second Music Director and Permanent Conductor of this orchestra) and engagements with the Staatskapelle Dresden and Berlin Konzerthaus orchester. Spring 2022 sae Sanderling conduct the Dortmunder Philharmoniker, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Saarländisches Staatsorchester, Staatskapelle Halle etc .
In the spring 2023, Thomas Sanderling gave in Vienna the Austrian premiere of Weinberg's last opera "The Idiot" in the production at the Theater an der Wien. That premiere was highly acclaimed by the audience and praised by the international press, including FAZ (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), WELT, Die PRESSE etc.
Recently he recorded American music with the Royal Philharmonnic Orchestra in London .
In the season 2023- 24 he will return to the Enescu PO in Bucharest,
MAV SO in Budapest .
Concerts in São Paulo, Warsaw, Liubljana , recordings in London etc .
In May 2024 he will take part in the Bruckner celebration (200th Birthday) and perform the 7th Symphony in Saarbruecken with the State Orchestra.
In the beginning of 2025 (50th anniversary of Shostakovich’s death), he will make a French Shostakovich Premiere with the ONIF .
(As of May 2023)