
David Zinman – Conductor Emeritus
David Zinman trained at the Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Minnesota, which later awarded him an honorary doctorate. While studying conducting at the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Tanglewood Music Center, he had his first major engagements with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Holland Festival. David Zinman was Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, which developed into one of the most important American orchestras under his aegis. From 1985 to 2009, he shaped the Aspen Festival of Music as its Artistic Director. David Zinman regularly conducts the renowned orchestras of Europe and the United States.
He led the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich as Chief Conductor from 1995 to 2014. Results of this long and happy collaboration include successful tours of Europe, Asia and the United States as well as a series of much-lauded CD recordings. The orchestra’s recording of all the Beethoven symphonies won the coveted «German Record Critics’ Award – Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik.»
David Zinman has been honoured with numerous prestigious prizes.
Since the spring of 2010, he has given regular international conducting courses with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. He was appointed Conductor Emeritus of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich in 2014 and can still be seen regularly at the rostrum with the Orchestra.