Michael Sanderling Michael Sanderling has been Principal Conductor at the Dresden Philharmonie since 2011. As his contract was prolonged, this extremely successful example of co-operation between the conductor and the orchestra will continue until at least 2019. At the same time, he is a sought-after guest conductor in the world’s greatest music centres and directs renowned orchestras such as the Zürich Tonhalle Orchestra, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo, the Berlin Konzerthausorchester, the Munich Philharmonie Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Germany’s great radio orchestras. Born in Berlin, Michael Sanderling is one of the few who have made their way from being orchestral musicians into the top league of conductors. In 1987, aged twenty, he became a cello soloist at the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Kurt Masur, then from 1994 to 2006 he filled the same position at the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. As a soloist, he gave guest performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonie Orchestra and the Orchestre de Paris, to name but a few, and as a passionate chamber musician he was a member of the Ex Aequo trio for eight years. Success It was at a rehearsal of the Berlin Chamber Orchestra in 2000 that he stood at the conductor’s desk for the first time. Familiär with a conductor’s work from his childhood as the son of legendary Kurt Sanderling, Michael assumed more and more conducting Jobs and was appointed principal conductor and art director of the renowned Kammerakademie Potsdam in 2006. He was successful as an opera conductor with Philip Glass’ The Fall ofthe House of Usher in Potsdam and with a new production of Sergei Prokofiev’s War and Peace at Cologne Opera. As a cellist and conductor he has made CD recordings of important works from the repertoire of Dvorak, Schumann, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky and others. However, it has been a long time since he last performed as a cellist. Passion Working with young musicians is close to Michael Sanderling’s heart. He teaches as a professor at Frankfurt University for Music and Performing Arts and co-operates regularly with the Bundesjugendorchester, the Jerusalem Weimar Youth Orchestra, the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and with the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra. From 2003 to 2013 he was associated with the Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie as its principal conductor. Speaking the language of orchestral musicians, Michael Sanderling is considered to be efficient at rehearsals and yet able to bring out the passion in the musicians during concerts. His musical horizon encompasses Bach and Handel as well as premieres, of which he has conducted many, and it is a major concern for him to develop the Dresden Philharmonic’s flexibility of sound and style even further. www.leedsconcertseason.com