Christian Zacharias (born 27 April 1950 in

Jamshedpur Jamshedpur (, ) or Tatanagar is the largest and most populous city in Jharkhand and the first planned industrial city in India. It is a Notified Area Council and Municipal Corporation and also the headquarter of the East Singhbhum district. It ...

) is a German pianist and conductor.

Music career

Zacharias studied piano with Irene Slavin and

Vlado Perlemuter Vladislas "Vlado" Perlemuter (26 May 1904 – 4 September 2002) was a Lithuanian-born French pianist and teacher. Biography Vladislas (Vlado) Perlemuter was born to a Polish Jewish family, the third of four sons, in Kovno, Russia (now Kaunas in Li ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. He won second prize at both the Geneva Competition in 1969 and the Van Cliburn Competition in 1973. After winning the Ravel Competition in Paris in 1975, he launched an international career. He has performed chamber music with such partners as the

Alban Berg Quartet The Alban Berg Quartett was a string quartet founded in Vienna, Austria in 1970, named after Alban Berg. Members Beginnings The Berg Quartet was founded in 1970 by four young professors of the Vienna Academy of Music, and made its debut in ...

, the

Guarneri Quartet The Guarneri Quartet was an American string quartet founded in 1964 at the Marlboro Music School and Festival. It was admired for its rich, warm, complex tone and its bold, dramatic interpretations of the quartet literature, with a particular aff ...

, the

Leipzig String Quartet The Leipzig String Quartet (in german: Leipziger Streichquartett) is a German string quartet established in 1988. The ensemble was also part of the 'Ensemble Avangarde' with the pianist Steffen Schleiermacher from Leipzig. History The Quartet w ...

Heinrich Schiff Heinrich Schiff (18 November 1951 – 23 December 2016) was an Austrian cellist and conductor. Early life Heinrich Schiff was born on 18 November 1951 in Gmunden, Austria. His parents, Helga (née Riemann) and Helmut Schiff, were composers. H ...

, and

Frank Peter Zimmermann Frank Peter Zimmermann (born 27 February 1965) is a German violinist. Childhood He was born in Duisburg, West Germany, and started playing the violin when he was five years old, giving his first concert with orchestra at the age of 10. Since he ...

. He made many recordings, among them a 1979 recording of 33 sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, the complete Schubert piano sonatas, the complete Mozart piano concertos (available on EMI classics), and the complete Beethoven piano concertos. He began his conducting career in 1992 with the

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande The Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (OSR) is a Swiss symphony orchestra, based in Geneva at the Victoria Hall. In addition to symphony concerts, the OSR performs as the opera orchestra in productions at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. History Er ...

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

. He made his US debut in 2000 with the

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic, commonly referred to as the LA Phil, is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at th ...

. Since 2000, he has been artistic director of the

Lausanne Chamber Orchestra The Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne (OCL, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra) is a Swiss chamber orchestra of around 40 musicians based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It has a vast repertoire, from the earliest baroque to contemporary premieres. The founder Vi ...

. Since 2002, he has been principal guest conductor of the

Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (GSO; sv, Göteborgs Symfoniker) is a Swedish symphony orchestra based in Gothenburg. The GSO is resident at the Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen. The orchestra received the title of the National Orc ...

, and since 2009 he has been an Artistic Partner with the

Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) is a full-time professional chamber orchestra based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. In collaboration with five Artistic Partners, the orchestra's musicians present more than 130 concerts and educational programs ea ...

. center, Christian Zacharias conducts Insula orchestra in La Seine Musicale.

References

External links

IMG Artists Full Biography

Christian Zacharias official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zacharias, Christian 1950 births EMI Classics and Virgin Classics artists Living people German classical pianists Male classical pianists German male conductors (music) Prize-winners of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition 21st-century German conductors (music) 21st-century classical pianists 21st-century German male musicians