Violist Tabea Zimmermann is the Season’s Artist in Residence
Prior to the 20th century, the viola repertoire was a lean affair, lacking «great names». Musical Modernism, however, discovered the specific timbre of the instrument for itself, and dedicated violists have championed works written for the instrument in all kinds of constellations. In this context, Tabea Zimmermann has attained special visibility and received high-carat recognition for her efforts. In 2020, she was awarded the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize – the equivalent of a knighthood in the music business.
As Artist in residence, she will appear at the Philharmonie three times during the 2024/25 season, taking advantage of very different constellations to demonstrate how her virtuosity and musicality have inspired leading composers to write works especially for her. The centrepiece of the chamber music programme she presents with Isabelle Faust and Jean-Guihen Queyras is the expansive solo sonata by György Ligeti, who decided to compose it after hearing Zimmermann’s playing on the radio. Within the second chamber music programme, which she shares with Christian Gerhaher and Gerold Huber, Wolfgang Rihm’s intense Stabat Mater for voice and viola (first
performed in 2020) will surely stand out. In concert with the Luxembourg Philharmonic, she reprises the solo part in Georges Lentz’ composition Monh, a piece whose world premiere she gave at the Philharmonie in July 2005. Her programmes are not limited, however, to music from the last quarter-century – examining earlier epochs helps in developing new perspectives on works written for Zimmermann. Thus, the first chamber music programme includes the Divertimento in E-flat-major K. 583 by Mozart. Mozart wrote its viola part of this string trio for himself since he loved the viola dearly instrument…although this is not quite true because there is the Sinfonia Concertante which we don’t have on the programme…. Altogether, the programming of this residency demonstrates a fact that is generally true of Tabea Zimmermann the artist: she is a living example of diversity, a champion of the old and the new, who will continue to make headlines in the future.
Christoph Gaiser
