Biography

Michael Sanderling | Conductor

Michael Sanderling has been chief conductor of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra since the 2021/2022 season and his appointment follows many years of successful collaborations. The aim of his role is to further develop the orchestra in the direction of the late Romantic composers such as Bruckner, Mahler and Strauss.

His third season on the podium with the orchestra offers highlights such as tours in Europe and South America as well as further CD productions. A Brahms cycle with the four symphonies and his Piano Quartet, orchestrated by Arnold Schoenberg and released by Warner Classics, attests his successful appointment.

Sanderling shares the stage with soloists such as Christian Tetzlaff, Steven Isserlis, Chen Reiss, Renaud Capuçon, Edgar Moreau, Vadim Gluzman, Yoav Levanon and Elisabeth Leonskaya.

Guest engagements also take Sanderling to leading orchestras worldwide. In recent seasons he has appeared with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Tonhalle-Orchestra Zurich and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He enjoys a particularly close and regular collaboration with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and the Radio Symphony Orchestra of SWR.

In the 2023/2024 season, in addition to his commitments in Lucerne, Sanderling will make his debut with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. He will also return to the Dresdner Philharmonie, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, among others.

Sanderling held his first principal position with the Kammerakademie Potsdam, holding the title of Artistic Director from 2006 to 2011. Between 2011 and 2019 he was Chief Conductor of the Dresdner Philharmonie. During his tenure he distinguished the orchestra as one of Germany’s leading ensembles, leading the musicians in a wide variety of concert formats in Dresden and on numerous international tours. Together with the orchestra he recorded the complete symphonies by Beethoven and Shostakovich for Sony Classical, to document this special collaboration.

His extensive discography includes recordings of important works by Dvořák, Schumann, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, and the complete symphonies of Beethoven and Shostakovich. It also includes a recording of works for cello and orchestra by Bloch, Korngold, Bruch and Ravel, alongside Edgar Moreau and the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, the latter being recently released by Warner Classics.

In the opera pit, Sanderling’s appearances include a new production of Sergei Prokofiev’s War and Peace at Oper Köln, for which he was voted Conductor of the Year by the magazine Opernwelt.

Sanderling is a passionate supporter of the new generation of young musicians. He teaches at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt am Main as well as the Bundesjugendorchester, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra. Between 2003 and 2013 he was Chief Conductor of the youth orchestra Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie.