David Zinman (born July 9, 1936, in Brooklyn, NY) is an American conductor and violinist.

After violin studies at Oberlin Conservatory, Zinman studied theory and composition at the University of Minnesota, earning his M.A. in 1963. He took up conducting at Tanglewood and from 1958 to 1962 worked in Maine with Pierre Monteux; he served as Monteux's assistant from 1961 to 1964.

Zinman held the post of tweede dirigent (second conductor) of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra from 1965 to 1977 and was principal conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra from 1979 to 1982.

Zinman served as music director of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra from 1974 to 1985, during the last two years of which tenure he also was principal guest conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He became music director in Baltimore in 1985. There he made several recordings for Telarc and Argo and Sony, toured widely, and began to implement ideas from the historically-informed-performance movement in interpretations of the Beethoven symphonies. Upon relinquishing that Baltimore post in 1998, Zinman was named the orchestra's conductor laureate. But he renounced this title three years later in protest at what he saw as the orchestra's increasingly conservative programming.

In 1998 Zinman worked as music director of the Ojai Music Festival alongside pianist Mitsuko Uchida. That same year he was appointed music director of the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he founded and directed its American Academy of Conducting until his sudden resignation in April 2010.

Zinman became music director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich in 1995. His innovative programming with that orchestra includes a series of late-night concerts, "Tonhalle Late", which combine classical music and a nightclub setting. His recordings for Arte Nova of the complete Beethoven symphonies were based on the new Jonathan Del Mar critical edition and was acclaimed by critics. He has subsequently recorded Beethoven overtures and concertos with the Tonhalle. He conducted the Tonhalle Orchestra in its first-ever appearance at The Proms in 2003. He concluded his Tonhalle music directorship on July 21, 2014 with a concert at The Proms.

Zinman conducted the soundtrack of the 1993 film of the New York City Ballet production of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker. In 2009 he led the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich in the filmscore 180°: If Your World Is Suddenly Upside-Down, composed by the sibling trio Diego Baldenweg with Nora Baldenweg and Lionel Baldenweg; this won the Suisa prize for "Best Original Score" at the Locarno Film Festival in 2010.

In 2006 he received the Theodore Thomas Award presented by the Conductors' Guild.

Zinman's 1992 recording of Henryk Górecki’s Symphony no.3 with Dawn Upshaw and the London Sinfonietta was an international bestseller.

Zinman and his second wife, Mary, an Australian violist, live in New Jersey. Zinman has two sons and a daughter.

Source: Article "David Zinman" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

David Zinman (né le 9 juillet 1936 à New York) est un chef d'orchestre américain.

Il a été l'élève puis l'assistant de Pierre Monteux de 1958 à 1964.

Parmi ses nombreux enregistrements, on relève celui de Casse-noisette de Tchaïkovski avec le New York City Ballet, réalisé pour une version filmée du ballet, et celui de la Symphonie n° 3 de Górecki avec le London Sinfonietta.

Source: Article "David Zinman" de Wikipédia en français, soumis à la licence CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Zinman studierte Musiktheorie und Komposition am Oberlin Conservatory of Music und an der University of Minnesota und kam dort auch in Kontakt mit Tanglewood. In Maine arbeitete er von 1958 bis 1962 mit Pierre Monteux zusammen und war von 1961 bis 1964 dessen Assistent beim London Symphony Orchestra.

Zinman war Hauptdirigent des Nederlands Kamerorkest von 1965 bis 1977, danach Musikdirektor des Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra von 1974 bis 1985 und schließlich Chefdirigent des Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest von 1979 bis 1982. Von 1985 bis 1998 wirkte Zinman als Musikdirektor des Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Zusammen mit diesem Orchester nahm er zahlreiche bedeutende Musikproduktionen auf, darunter die Schumann-Sinfonien.

Seit 1995 war er Chefdirigent des Zürcher Tonhalle-Orchesters. Dort hatte er große Erfolge (Beethoven-Sinfonien, Musik von Robert Schumann und Richard Strauss) in seinen Konzerten und wurde auch dank seiner CD-Einspielungen gefeiert. Im Herbst 2009 haben David Zinman und das Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich zusammen mit dem Komponisten Diego Baldenweg und dem Musikproduzenten Lionel Vincent Baldenweg einen aufwendigen Soundtrack für den Kinofilm 180° aufgenommen, welcher am Internationalen Filmfestival Locarno mit dem SUISA-Preis für die „beste Filmmusik 2010“ honoriert wurde.

David Zinman lebt in New Jersey, USA, und in Zürich. Immer wieder dirigiert Zinman die renommierten amerikanischen Orchester von Boston, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco und New York; in Europa gastiert er regelmäßig bei den Berliner Philharmonikern, beim Concertgebouw-Orchester Amsterdam, beim Londoner Philharmonia Orchestra, den Münchner Philharmonikern und dem Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks sowie dem Gewandhausorchester. 2014 nahm er in Zürich seinen Abschied.