I IFFCC Jury Member
Thomas Sanderling’s celebrated conducting career spans more than 50 years and has taken him to the world’s great stages. He has received numerous awards for his artistic achievements as a concert and opera conductor and has made numerous recordings.
He has conducted the world premieres of many instrumental and stage works by composers such as Shostakovich, Weinberg and Gubaidulina.
Thomas Sanderling, born in 1942 in Novosibirsk, Russia, was the son of exiled conductor Kurt Sanderling. He studied in Leningrad before continuing at the Hanns Eisler Academy in Berlin, where he made his conducting debut in 1962.
At 24, he became Musical Director of the Halle Opera House while already guest conducting major orchestras like the Staatskapelle Dresden and Gewandhaus Leipzig. His 1978 debut at the Vienna State Opera launched an international career, leading him to prestigious venues such as Teatro La Fenice, the Bolshoi Theatre, and the Mariinsky Theatre. In 2013, his production of Weinberg’s The Idiot was named ‘World Premiere of the Year’ by Opernwelt.
Thomas Sanderling has conducted leading orchestras, including the Vienna and London Philharmonic, London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, major Russian ensembles, and orchestras across Europe and North America. He maintains a close relationship with the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic and was named Music Director Laureate for Life by the Osaka Symphony Orchestra.
Throughout his career, he has collaborated with renowned artists such as David Oistrakh, Emil Gilels, Leonard Bernstein, and Herbert von Karajan. He had a special connection with Dmitri Shostakovich, premiering his 13th and 14th symphonies in Germany and recording several of his works.
A champion of Mieczysław Weinberg’s music, he co-founded the International Mieczysław Weinberg Society in 2015 and introduced key works like Requiem and Symphony No. 21 to German and global audiences.
Thomas Sanderling has recorded extensively and earned top international honours. In 1998, he won the Cannes Classical Award for his recordings of Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and the complete symphonies of Albéric Magnard. His 2010 recording of Paul Kletzki’s Piano Concerto with Joseph Banowetz and the Russian Philharmonic was Grammy-nominated.
His 2006 Deutsche Grammophon recordings of unpublished Shostakovich works with Sergei Leiferkus received global acclaim, including Gramophone magazine’s Editor’s Choice. He won the 2017 ECHO Klassik for his recording of Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich violin concertos with Linus Roth and the London Symphony Orchestra.
In 2023, Sanderling was a member of the jury of the I international ferenc fricsay conducting competition.
