DAVID ZINMAN is in his tenth season as Music Director of the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich, a post he took up in 1995. In 1998 he completed a highly successful 13-year tenure as Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Also in 1998, he became Music Director of the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he is also Program Director of the newly formed American Academy of Conducting. Before his tenure with the Baltimore Symphony, Zinman served as Music Director of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra (1964-77), the Rochester Philharmonic (1974-85), and the Rotterdam Philharmonic (1979-82).

Zinman's directorships have been distinguished by his programming of broad repertoire, his commitment to the performance of contemporary music, and his historically informed performance practice. He has toured widely with both the Tonhalle Orchestra and Baltimore Symphony in Europe, North America, and the Far East, most recently with the Tonhalle Orchestra to Japan (June 1999) and the United States (May 2004).

Since his American conducting debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1967, Zinman has led many of the world's leading orchestras. His guest-conducting schedule in 2004/2005 includes returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Montreal, and National symphony orchestras, and the Orchestra of St. Luke's at Carnegie Hall.

Zinman's more than 80 recordings with major European orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, and the London Symphony have earned numerous international honors, including five Grammy awards, two Grand Prix du Disque, and two Edison Prizes. Zinman and the Tonhalle Orchestra have recorded Honneger and Mozart albums to launch a series on the London/Decca label; they recently completed Beethoven and Strauss cycles and have begun the Beethoven concerto repertoire for piano, horn, and orchestra for Arte Nova, to be released on the BMG label.

Zinman graduated from Oberlin Conservatory and pursued advanced work in composition at the University of Minnesota. Conducting studies at the Tanglewood Music Center brought him to the attention of Pierre Monteux, who guided his musical development and gave Zinman his first important conducting opportunities with the London Symphony Orchestra and at the 1963 Holland Festival, where critics hailed Zinman as a major conducting discovery.