Michael Sanderling has been chief conductor of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra since the 2021/2022 season. The appointment follows many years of successful collaboration and with the common goal of further developing the orchestra in the direction of late Romantic repertoire such as Bruckner, Mahler and Strauss. His second season on the podium of the orchestra also awaits with highlights such as tours in Europe and Asia. A Brahms cycle featuring the four symphonies as well as his "Fifth," the piano quartet orchestrated by Arnold Schoenberg, will also be released by Warner Classics in spring 2023.
Sanderling will share the stage with soloists such as Gautier Capucon, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Martha Argerich, Elisabeth Leonskaja and Olga Peretjatko.
Guest engagements have taken Michael Sanderling to leading orchestras worldwide. In recent seasons he has been a guest conductor with the Berlin Philharmonic, the WDR Symphony Orchestra, SWR Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, NHK Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. A particularly close and regular collaboration connects him with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig as well as Konzerthausorchester Berlin.
In addition to his engagements in Lucerne, he follows invitations to the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, SWR Symphonieorchester Stuttgart, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Dresdner Philharmonie, Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra as well as BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto, among others, in the 2022/2023 season.
From 2011 to 2019, Michael Sanderling was principal conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic. During this time, he distinguished the orchestra as one of Germany's leading orchestras and led it in a wide variety of concert formats in Dresden as well as on numerous tours in Germany and abroad. The recordings of the complete symphonies of Beethoven and Shostakovich for Sony Classical document this special collaboration.
Michael Sanderling held his first principal position with the Kammerakademie Potsdam, of which he was Artistic Director from 2006 to 2011.
Michael Sanderling's discography includes recordings of important works by Dvořák, Schumann, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, and the complete symphonies of Beethoven and Shostakovich. A recording of works for cello and orchestra by Bloch, Korngold, Bruch and Ravel with Edgar Moreau and the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra was recently released by Warner Classics. As an opera conductor, his previous appearances include a new production of Sergei Prokofiev's War and Peace at the Cologne Opera. In 1987, at the age of 20, Michael Sanderling became principal cellist of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Kurt Masur, and from 1994 to 2006 he held the same position with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Michael Sanderling is a passionate promoter of the young generation of musicians. He teaches at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt am Main and works regularly with the Bundesjugendorchester, the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra. He also remains associated with the Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie, which he led as principal conductor from 2003 to 2013. Together with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, he will continue and intensify the cooperation with the Lucerne School of Music