Thomas Zehetmair enjoys enviable international acclaim, not only as a violinist, but also as a conductor and chamber musician. He is chief conductor of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and Musikkollegium Winterthur and was recently named principal conductor of the Orchestre national d’Auvergne from the 2020/21 season.
He has appeared as a conductor and violinist with orchestras such as the Seattle Symphony, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and the Hamburg Philharmonic. He was chief conductor of the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, artistic partner of the St Paul Chamber Orchestra and music director of the Royal Northern Sinfonia, with whom he continues his association as conductor laureate.
During the 2020/21 season Thomas Zehetmair conducted the Russian National Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra and the Irish Chamber Orchestra. He also performs with the Zehetmair Quartet in Germany, Switzerland and Italy and they will record the Brahms string quartets for ECM.
Thomas Zehetmair has an extensive and varied discography as a violinist and conductor, as well as with the Zehetmair Quartet. His recording of the Paganini Caprices won a Midem Classic Award, while his performance of the Elgar Violin Concerto with the Hallé Orchestra under Mark Elder received a Gramophone Classical Music Award in 2010. Other recent recordings include the Brahms symphonies and Bruckner’s Third Symphony with Musikkollegium Winterthur and Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, which was selected as one of the best recordings of 2019 by both The New York Times and Die Zeit.
The Zehetmair Quartet was awarded the Paul Hindemith Prize by the City of Hanau for its outstanding musical achievements. Thomas Zehetmair has also been honoured by the German Record Critics and holds honorary doctorates from the University of Music Franz Liszt in Weimar and Newcastle University.
