Sanderling, Thomas (2nd October 1942-Present)

Conductor from Novosibirsk, Russia, who attended the Hochschule fur Musik in East Berlin and the Leningrad Conservatory and studied with Hans Swarowksy. His father, Kurt Sanderling, was the conductorof the St. Petersburg Philharmonic.

It did not take long for him to put his education to use, as he joined the Halle Opera as their music director when he was twenty-four years old.

While debuting in Moscow as the conductor of the State Orchestra of Russia, he met up with Dmitri Shostakovich and they became fast friends, so much so that the Russian master asked him to conduct the German premieres of his 13^th and 14^th symphonies. Thomas also recorded the world premiere of Shostakovich’s “Michelangelo Suite”. After Shostakovich died, Thomas dedicated an Italian version of the work to Dmitri’s widow, Irina.

Thomas debuted with the Wiener Staatsoper and became the permanent guest conductor of the Deutsche Staatsoper in 1978, a post he held for five years. In 1983, he relocated to Germany.

He became the artistic advisor and principal conductor of the Philharmonisch Orkest in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in 1984, and remained in those capacities until 1986. In 1992, he became the music director of the Osaka Symphony Orchestra in Japan.

He conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Royal Festival Hall on 2^nd April 2002. The all-Brahms program comprised “Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15”, “Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68” and “Tragic Overture, Op. 81”. He became guest conductor of the Novosibirsk Philharmonic Orchestra in 2002 and principal guest conductor of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia in 2004.

In 2006, he conducted a couple of concerts to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of Shostakovich’s birth, one with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and one at the Shostakovich Jubilee festival, where he premiered “Suite, Op. 29a” from Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.

He resigned from his post with the Osaka Symphony Orchestra in 2009. On 21^st November 2009, he conducted the world premiere of Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s Requiem at Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool, England.

He conducted the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra at Durban City Hall on 2^nd November 2010 in a program that comprised the overture from The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, “Symphony in D minor” by Cesar Franck, and “Violin Concerto” by Johannes Brahms, with soloist Daniel Hope.

On 11^th September 2011, he conducted the Russian National Orchestra at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in a performance of “Symphony No. 13” (“Babi Yar”) by Shostakovich, with bass-baritone Sergei Leiferkus, and “Symphony No. 3” (“Kaddish”) by Leonard Bernstein.

He conducted the Novosibirsk Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra at the Usedom Music Festival in Germany on 5^th October 2012, when they performed “Serenade for Strings in C major, Op. 48” by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

On 20^th March 2013, he conducted Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem at the Auditorio Nacional de Musica in Madrid, Spain.

In 2017 he became the Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Novosibirsk Philharmonic Orchestra.

Recordings on which he appears include: Alberic Magnard: Complete Symphonies with the Malmo Symphony Orchestra; Beyond Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5/Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet with the Novosibirsk Academic Symphony Orchestra; Complete Brahms Symphonies with the Philharmonia; Dmitri Shostakovich: Songs and Waltzes with Sergei Leiferkus and the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra; Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 6 with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra; Richard Nanes: Symphony No. 3 “The Holocaust”/Symphony No. 4 “The Eternal Conflict” with the London Philharmonic Orchestra; Saint-Saens: The Piano Concertos with Anna Malikova and the WDR Sinfonieorchester Koln; and, Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto, Op. 35/Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2, Op. 63 with the Halle Symphony Orchestra and Mayuko Kamio.

London Philharmonic recordings
Adagio for Piano and Orchestra (Richard Nanes)
Piano—Richard Nanes
CD single: Delfon 9090

Sources:

Sanderling, Thomas (2nd October 1942-Present)

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