Michael Sanderling has been Principal Conductor at the Dresden Philharmonie since 2011. As his contract was pro- longed, 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 Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, the Yo- miuri 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 Sym phony Orchestra in Tokyo, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orches tra and Germany's great radio orchestras. Born in Berlin, Michael Sanderling is one of the few who made their way from being orchestra musicians into the top league of conductors. In 1987, aged 20, he became a cello soloist at the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Kurt Masur, then from 1994 to 2006 he filled the same Po sition 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 foreightyears. What is close to Michael Sanderling's heart is work with young musicians. 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 Philharmo nie 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 the orchestra musicians, Michael Sanderling is considered to be efficient at rehearsals and yet able to bring out the fire in the musicians during con- certs. His musical horizon encompasses Bach and Handel as well as premieres, of which he has conducted many by now, and it is a major concern for him to develop the Dresden Philharmonic's flexibility of sound and style even further. It was at a rehearsal of the Berlin Chamber Orchestra in 2000 that he stood at the conductor's desk for the first time - and was on fire. Familiär with a conductor's work from his childhood as the son of legendary Kurt Sanderling, Mi chael assumed more and more conducting jobs and was appointed principal conductor and art director of the re nowned Kammerakademie Potsdam in 2006. He was suc cessful as an opera conductor with Philip Glass'"The Fall of the 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 im portant 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.
