Florian Donderer
Florian Donderer, well-known for his energetic style and sophisticated interpretations, is a highly valued chamber music partner for many renowned musicians. His dynamic, clear and precise style makes him a welcome guest in the role of concertmaster in a number of Europe’s best ensembles. He is now increasingly in demand as a conductor who is able to use his extensive rehearsal experience as concertmaster as well as his grasp of chamber music to bring an orchestra to peak performance.
Florian Donderer studied in Berlin and London and was an assistant to Prof. Thomas Brandis at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin. During his studies, he held a scholarship from the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
From an early stage, he focussed on chamber music as the centre of his musical work. He was a long- standing member of the Ensemble Oriol Berlin, where he was a soloist and also responsible for the artistic aspects of a great number of programs. He has been concertmaster of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen since 1999, where he has made a name for himself by directing from the concertmaster’s desk. He was also concertmaster of the Kammerakademie Potsdam from 2001 to 2004, where he directed various programs. Other orchestras are also eager to draw on his skill as artistic director and concertmaster, for instance the Camerata Academica Salzburg, the Lucerne Festival Strings, the Ensemble Resonanz, the Folkwang Kammerorchester, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble.
He made his debut as a conductor in February 2010 with the Ensemble Oriol and Christiane Oelze at a concert in the Berlin Philharmonic Hall. This was followed by a CD recording with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Tanja Tetzlaff. In 2011 he also conducted the Südwestdeutsche Kammerorchester Pforzheim several times. “You must make a mental note of the conductor, Florian Donderer, who reacted brilliantly in all situations.” (Pforzheimer Zeitung, 2011)
Florian Donderer was also a frequent guest, as a chamber musician and soloist, at important festivals world-wide such as the Ultima Festival in Oslo, the Helsinki Early Music Week, the Vestfold Festival in Tonsberg (Norway), the Bergen Festival, the Musik Triennale in Cologne, the Beethoven Festival in Bonn, as well as the festivals “Spannungen” in Heimbach and “Sommersprossen” in Rottweil, the MDR Musiksommer, the Ultraschall Festival in Berlin, the Festwochen Berlin, the Musikfest Bremen and the Musikfestival Mecklenburg Vorpommern.
He regularly gives concerts with Lisa Batiashvili, Christiane Oelze, Hélène Grimaud, Lars Vogt, David Fray, Oli Mustonen, Sergio Azzolini, Christian Tetzlaff, Antje Weithaas, Gustav Rivinius, Tanja Tetzlaff, Gunilla Süssmann, Pekka Kuusisto, Alban Gerhard, Hanna Weinmeister, Ingo Goritzki, Jacques Zoon and other artists.
Florian Donderer is the artistic director of the chamber music series residenz@sendesaal in the Sendesaal Bremen, where respected musicians have the opportunity to use the studio’s outstanding facilities for their CD productions. Regular guests here are, among others, Christian Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt (this duo, among others, appears here regularly). The Tetzlaff Quartet’s CD with string quartets from Sibelius and Schönberg, which was recorded here, was included on the German Record Review’s list of best recordings.
Florian Donderer has appeared on CDs with, among others, Richard Strauss’ Metamorphosen with the Kammerakademie Potsdam under his direction (2004, Arte Nova), Stravinsky’s L’histoire du soldat, conducted by Paavo Järvi, with Florian Donderer as concertmaster (2004, Pentatone). Various chamber music works appeared on the CDs of the festival “Spannungen” from 2005 and 2009 (Avi- music). His most recent CD is Ernst Toch’s cello concert, with Tanja Tetzlaff as soloist and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, conducted by Florian Donderer. It appeared in 2011 at NEOS.
Florian Donderer plays a violin built by the German violin-maker Peter Greiner in 2003.
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