The reputed Tonhalle Orchestra, being Switzerland’s oldest symphony orchestra, is invited to perform at Beijing, Shanghai, and Wuxi’s famous music halls on the occasion of the 20th Shanghai International Arts Festival and the 20th Beijing International Music Festival. For the first time, the new conductor and music director Paavo Järvi will take the lead to present great music pieces including Mahler’s expressive «Symphony No.5».

Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich

Consisting of just over 100 musicians from 20 nations, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich performs 50 different programmes at more than 100 concerts every season. In the last two decades, the ensemble has appeared in more than 70 cities in 14 countries, accompanied by distinguished soloists such as Joshua Bell, Rudolf Buchbinder, Alfred Brendel, Nelson Freire, Julia Fischer, Hélène Grimaud, Yuja Wang, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Yo-Yo Ma, Lisa Batiashvili, Maria João Pires and Sabine Meyer. The 2018/19 season will see the Orchestra tour the musical centers of Asia with Paavo Järvi, its designated Chief Conductor and Music Director, who will be taking up his post as of the 2019/20 season.

More than 40 CD recordings document the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich’s rise to prominence. The ensemble’s interpretations of the complete Beethoven, Mahler, Brahms and Schubert symphonies, as well as the Ravel box set, garner particular acclaim. The Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich’s concerts are broadcast and streamed regularly on SRF (Swiss Radio and Television), Radio Swiss Classic, Mezzo TV, and medici.tv.

In recent years, the Orchestra has developed close relationships with guest conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Christoph von Dohnányi, Charles Dutoit, Franz Welser-Möst and Bernard Haitink. Ton Koopman, Jan Willem de Vriend and Giovanni Antonini, prominent representatives of historical performance practice, also conduct the Orchestra on a regular basis. For almost 20 years until the end of the 2013/14 season, David Zinman exerted a decisive influence on the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich as Chief Conductor, and is now the ensemble’s Conductor Laureate. His successor, Lionel Bringuier, completed his four-year term as Chief Conductor and Musical Director at the end of the 2017/18 season. The Orchestra has performed at the Tonhalle Maag, its interim venue in Zurich-West for three years, since the beginning of the 2017/18 season.

Awards

1999     «German Record Critics’ Prize» for the recording of the complete Beethoven symphonies
2007     «Midem Classical Award» for the recording of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with Christian Tetzlaff
2009     «Prix Choc» awarded by «Le Monde de la musique» for the recording of Mahler’s Sixth Symphony
2011     «Echo Klassik» for Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, «Symphonic Recording of the Year, 19th century»
2014     «Record Academy Award» in the «best sound-quality recording» category for the recording of Mahler’s «Das Lied von der Erde»
2015     «Echo Klassik» for David Zinman in the «Conductor of the Year» category for the recording of Mahler’s «Das Lied von der Erde»