Thomas Sanderling is the Lifetime Music Director Laureate of the Osaka Symphony and the last active conductor to have closely collaborated with Shostakovich, Weinberg, and Schnittke. He grew up in St. Petersburg, where his father, the eminent conductor Kurt Sanderling, was the permanent conductor of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic. At 24, Thomas was appointed Music Director of the Halle Opera. By his mid-twenties, he was already conducting the Dresden Staatskapelle, Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig, and Komische Oper Berlin.
His premiere recording of Shostakovich’s last orchestral work, Michelangelo Suite, led Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein to engage him as an assistant in various projects. In the early 1980s, Sanderling became the permanent guest conductor of the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, making his debut at the Wiener Staatsoper conducting Die Zauberflöte and Le Nozze di Figaro. He has won numerous awards, including an OPUS KLASSIK Award for his recording of Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Sanderling has conducted many of the world’s leading orchestras and opera companies, including the Baltimore Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, and Mariinsky Theatre, among others. He has recorded for several labels, including Deutsche Grammophon (Shostakovich, Gramophone Editor’s Choice), BIS (two Cannes Classical Awards), and Chandos. His recording for Sony Classical featuring Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev won CD of the Month in several Tokyo magazines, while his recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 became a reference recording and won another Cannes Classical Award.
Sanderling had a successful debut concert in Moscow, conducting the State Orchestra of Russia at the invitation of Evgeny Svetlanov, where Shostakovich attended and later invited him to his home, entrusting him with the scores of his 13th and 14th Symphonies. He maintained a close relationship with Shostakovich and continues to collaborate with his widow, Irina Shostakovich. Recently discovered, the first orchestral version of Six Romances on Verses by English Poets was given to Sanderling by Irina, who asked him to conduct its world premiere. He conducted this premiere along with the Suite on Sonnets by Michelangelo with the Helsinki Philharmonic and Gerald Finley (bass-baritone), receiving the Pizzicato Supersonic Award for the live recording.
Before these premieres, Sanderling conducted the world premieres of the Six Romances in English with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and also performed Shostakovich’s 10th Symphony, which was recorded and broadcasted multiple times. Recently, he premiered three fragments from The Nose, reconstructed from manuscripts given to him by Irina, with the Dresden Staatskapelle, receiving rave reviews.
In recent years, Sanderling has focused on Weinberg’s works, including the world premiere of Requiem with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. He conducted the world premiere of The Idiot at the National Theater Mannheim in 2013 and its Russian premiere at the Mariinsky in 2015. He has also conducted successful German premieres, such as Symphony No. 21 with the Stuttgart State Orchestra and Symphony No. 7 with the Dresden Staatskapelle.
Other highlights included a concert with the Deutsches Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin to mark the 80th Anniversary of the Babyn Yar massacre, an acclaimed recording of Stravinsky and Sibelius with the Philharmonia Orchestra as well as concerts with the Dortmunder Philharmoniker and Estonian National Symphony Orchestra.
In spring 2023, Sanderling conducted the Austrian premiere of Weinberg’s last opera, The Idiot, at the Theater an der Wien, receiving high praise. He also recorded American music with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London. In May 2024, he reflected on Bruckner’s 200th anniversary by performing his 7th Symphony in Saarbrücken and is scheduled to perform it with the Osaka Symphony Orchestra and the Youth Orchestra in Portugal.
At the end of May 2024, Thomas Sanderling was elected President of the Jury at the International Mitropoulos Conducting Competition. In early 2025, the 50th anniversary of Shostakovich’s death, he will return to Hungary to perform with the Budapest MÁV Symphony Orchestra. He will conduct French and Croatian premiere of the fragments of the Shostakovich’s opera The Nose with Orchestre national d’Île-de-France in Paris and with the RTV Symphony Orchestra in Zagreb. In 2024/25 season he will also conduct the Parma Symphony Orchestra and the Osaka Symphony Orchestra.
At the end of October 2025, he will conduct Shostakovich’s symphonies in China with the China Philharmonic Orchestra in Beijing and Shanghai. A live recording of his premiere of Shostakovich’s The Nose fragments with the Dresden Staatskapelle is set to be released by Deutsche Grammophon in 2025, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the composer’s death.
