As a violinist, conductor and chamber musician, Thomas Zehetmair enjoys a great reputation all over the world. His international career as a conductor was determined early on by two positions above all – as Chief Conductor of the Orchestre de chambre de Paris in France, and as an Artistic Partner of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in the USA. He was the Chief Conductor of the Royal Northern Sinfonia from 2002 to 2014, and made it into one of the leading orchestras in England. He also remains committed to the orchestra as its “Conductor Laureate”. Their extremely successful collaboration has been documented by a series of recordings: Brahms’s Violin Concerto and Schumann’s Symphony No. 4, Sibelius’s Symphonies Nos. 3 and 6, Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto in D major, Schubert’s Symphonies Nos. 6 and 9 and the Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2 by Hans Gál. His most recent releases include Mendelssohn’s Symphonies Nos. 1 and 5 with the Musikkollegium Winterthur (on the MDG label) and works by French composers on two albums with the Orchestre de chambre de Paris (on Naïve)

Thomas Zehetmair has recorded the greater part of the violin repertoire, and many of his recordings have been awarded numerous prizes. These recordings include Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Violin Concerto with the WDR Symphony Orchestra under Heinz Holliger (which won the “Diapason d’Or de l’Année” in 2009), the 24 Paganini Caprices (on the “list of the best” for the “Prize of the German Record Critics” in 2009 and the Midem Classic Award 2010), a recording of Elgar’s Violin Concerto with the Hallé Orchestra of Manchester under Mark Elder (Gramophone Award 2010) and Mozart’s Violin Concertos with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century under Frans Brüggen, which are considered reference recordings. In March 2011 ECM also released Manto and Madrigals, on which Thomas Zehetmair and his duo partner Ruth Killius undertake a journey through the modern and contemporary repertoire for violin and viola.

Thomas Zehetmair’s position as Chief Conductor has been complemented by numerous guest performances with orchestras such as the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, the Residentie Orkest Den Haag, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, the Camerata Salzburg (at the Salzburg Festival) and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. He also performs regularly as a soloist with many important orchestras.

Thomas Zehetmair has been the recipient of various awards for his diverse artistic activities, such as the “Ehrenurkunde” (“honorary certificate”) of the Prize of the German Record Critics and the Karl Böhm Interpretation Prize of the Province of Styria. Thomas Zehetmair has honorary doctorates in music from the Franz Liszt University of Music in Weimar and from Newcastle University.