Thomas Sanderling

Thomas Sanderling

b. 1942 (Novosibirsk)

Thomas Sanderling is a German and Russian conductor, born on 2 October 1942 in Novosibirsk. He was born into the family of the noted conductor Kurt Sanderling and his first wife, Nina Bobat.

He grew up in Leningrad, where his father led the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra. Sanderling graduated from the Special Music School affiliated with the Leningrad Conservatory, studying violin with Mikhail Waiman and composition with Nikolai Rabinovich.

In 1960 his family moved to East Germany, where he studied conducting at the East Berlin Academy of Music. He made his conducting debut in 1962 and, two years later, became chief conductor of the orchestra in Reichenbach. In 1966 he was appointed music director of the Halle Opera.

Sanderling collaborated with the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Komische Oper Berlin, and subsequently conducted the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of the United States, and the symphony orchestras of Vancouver, Helsinki, Oslo and Baltimore. His engagements also included the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Bavarian Radio and Berlin Radio orchestras.

Among the soloists with whom he performed were David Oistrakh, Emil Gilels, Gidon Kremer, José van Dam, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Gundula Janowitz, Robert Hall, Alexis Weissenberg, Lazar Berman, Andrei Hoteev, Natalia Gutman and Walter Berry.

From 1978 to 1983, Sanderling was principal guest conductor of the Berlin City Opera. He became chief conductor of the Osaka Symphony Orchestra in 1992. From 2002 to 2022 he served as principal guest conductor of the Novosibirsk Academic Symphony Orchestra, and from 2003 he held the same position with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia. He lives in the United Kingdom.

His brothers are the cellist and conductor Michael Sanderling and the conductor Stefan Sanderling.

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