In the season 2012/13 the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich will give 85 concerts in Zurich
as well as guest appearances in Germany, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. David
Zinman opens the "Saison russe" with a Tchaikovsky Festival including Stravinsky's
"Sacre du Printemps."
A special Chamber music series for young people and families
has been introduced for the first time this season.
David Zinman, principal conductor of the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich since 1995, will
conduct 47 of the season’s 85 concerts, including those in Vaduz, Luxembourg and
on a major tour in Germany, where pianist Rafał Blechacz, winner of the International
Chopin Competition, and the celebrated violinist Julia Fischer will join the orchestra
as soloists.
One of the highlights of the season will be three concerts of Tchaikovsky’s most well
known compositions, and David Zinman will conduct works specially composed for
Diaghilev’s ballet company with Stravinky’s ‘Firebird’, ‘Petruschka’ and the original
version of ‘ The Rite of Spring’ which David Zinman’s teacher and mentor Pierre
Monteux conducted at the scandalous premiere in Paris in 1913.
In the season 2012/13, there will be three ‘Artists in Residence’ collaborating with
members of the orchestra ad playing as soloists. These are the violinist Christian
Tetzlaff and pianist Andras Schiff. The British composer George Benjamin, pupil of
Olivier Messiaen, and composer in residence at the 2008 Lucerne Festival will be
composer in residence with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich.
In cooperation with the Zurich Film Festival and Forum the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich
will participate in an international film music competition. David Zinman will be on the
jury of the competition and will conduct at the award ceremony of the Golden Eye
(endowed with CHF 10,000) together with the host Sandra Studer at the Tonhalle in
Zurich. Film music, to be awarded with Oscars will be heard in the tonhalleLATE
concert. The second tonhalleLATE will include Julia Fischer playing Dvořák's Violin
Concerto, which she will also perform when on tour with the orchestra in Germany in
March 2013.
Special seasonal events include the guest appearances of the New York
Philharmonic with Joshua Bell and their conductor Alan Gilbert, and the St. Matthew
Passion with Collegium Vocale Gent under Philippe Herreweghe. David Zinman will
conduct the fireworks concert in celebration of the New Year and then a performance
of Honegger's "Jeanne d'Arc au bűcher "with the Sing-Akademie Zurich, choir master
Tim Brown.
World-renowned conductors will include Christoph von Dohnanyi, Charles Dutoit,
Bernard Haitink, Kurt Masur and Sir Roger Norrington. Lionel Bringuier, Jaap van
Zweden, and Pablo Heras-Casado will return to Zurich to conduct the orchestra, and
cellist Sol Gabetta, conductors Francesco Angelico and Alain Altinoglu, will make
their debuts with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich.
At the end of the season, David Zinman will conduct the opening concert of the Zurich
Festival in a major concert of music by Wagner. He will also perform excerpts from
Beethoven symphonies in Wagner's house, the Villa Wesendock, now the Museum
Rietberg, in memory of the composer. In the series ‘Literature and Music’ one of the
Sundays will be dedicated to the composer ‘Wagners Trieben und Treiben in Zürich’.