Tabea Zimmermann
Tabea Zimmermann | |
|---|---|
 Zimmermann in 2007 | |
| Born | 8 October 1966 |
| Occupations |
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| Organizations | |
| Awards | Ernst von Siemens Music Prize |
| Website | www |
Tabea Zimmermann (born 8 October 1966) is a German violist who has performed internationally, both as a soloist and a chamber musician. She has been artist in residence of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2004, Zimmermann founded the Arcanto Quartet, a string quartet that performed until 2016. Several composers have written music for her, including György Ligeti (the Viola Sonata), and she has made her own version of Bartók's Viola Concerto from the composer's sketches.
Zimmermann is a professor at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts and gives master classes at the Kronberg Academy and elsewhere. Her awards include the 2020 Ernst von Siemens Music Prize.
Life and career
[edit]Zimmermann was born in Lahr on 8 October 1966,[1][2] the youngest of four children.[1] Zimmermann began learning the viola at age three,[2][3] and commenced piano studies at age five.[2][4] She took lessons at the Musikschule in Lahr, where she also played in string quartet formation and in trio with her sisters.[1]
From age 13, she studied viola with Ulrich Koch at the Freiburg Conservatory and progressed to study with Sándor Végh at the Mozarteum of Salzburg.[1][2][5][6] She soon gained recognition in international competitions, winning first prizes in Geneva (1982),[1] the Budapest International Viola Competition (1984), and the Maurice Vieux International Viola Competition in Paris (1983), for which she was awarded an instrument by contemporary luthier Étienne Vatelot (1980).[2] Since 2019, she has been playing an instrument built for her by Patrick Robin.[7]
As a soloist, Zimmermann has performed with major orchestras such as the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, the BBC Philharmonic, and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and with conductors including Kurt Masur, Bernard Haitink, and Nikolaus Harnoncourt. In 1992 she made her debut with the Berlin Philharmonic, performing Bartók's Viola Concerto.[8] She often performed Tibor Serly's version of the piece,[9] but after studying the original sketches in 1994, she prepared her own version.[10][11] She played her version in the final concert of the 2023 Kronberg Festival at the Casals Forum, with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony conducted by Christoph Eschenbach.[10]
Zimmermann has been artist in residence, at the Kunstfest Weimar in 2008, in Luxembourg in 2009, in Hamburg in 2010,[2] with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic,[8] and in the 2022/23 season the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.[12][13][14]
Zimmermann is also devoted to chamber music, having performed with Gidon Kremer, Lars Vogt, Hartmut Höll, Steven Isserlis, Javier Perianes, and Pamela Frank at numerous festivals. In 2004, she co-founded the Arcanto Quartet with Antje Weithaas, Daniel Sepec, and Jean-Guihen Queyras.[2][15] The quartet played together until 2016.[16] She has also collaborated with the Ensemble Resonanz.[17]
Committed to 20th- and 21st-century repertoire, Zimmermann premiered Ligeti's Viola Sonata, which was written for her,[2] on 23 April 1994 in