David Zinman

David Zinman ranks among America’s foremost conductors, recognized for an expansive range that places special weight on contemporary works across both continents.

He began with violin training, completing his studies at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music in Ohio in 1958 before earning a master’s degree in composition from the University of Minnesota in 1963. During those years he also participated in the Berkshire Music Center program at Tanglewood. Pierre Monteux observed his potential and encouraged him to join the French conductor’s school in Maine; Zinman served as Monteux’s assistant from 1961 to 1963 and has long regarded him as his chief teacher.

After appearing as a guest with the Nederlands Kammerorkest, the ensemble appointed him its principal conductor, a post he occupied from 1965 to 1977. His achievements in the Netherlands prompted the Rotterdam Philharmonic to name him music director from 1979 to 1982, and he also led concerts at the Holland Festival. Concurrently he acted as music adviser to the Rochester Philharmonic in New York from 1972 to 1974 and then as its music director through 1985.

In 1983 Zinman was named principal guest conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, advancing to music director two years later. There he became noted for wide-ranging programming and fresh initiatives, introducing a summer festival, a Discovery series devoted to new music, and informal Saturday-morning Casual Concerts that included his own spoken commentary.

His recordings for Telarc, Argo, and Sony Classics range from established scores such as the Elgar symphonies and overtures to more singular works like Michael Daugherty’s Metropolis Symphony, which draws on figures and episodes from the Superman comic books. Through these projects and his Baltimore tenure, Zinman helped generate renewed interest in a distinctly American symphonic idiom that favors clear tonality and propulsive rhythms drawn from jazz and popular idioms over the abstract, twelve-tone language prevalent between roughly 1950 and 1980. Although the approach has sometimes stirred debate, its rhythmic vitality has energized longstanding listeners while drawing fresh audiences.

Zinman relinquished his Baltimore post in 1998 yet retains the roles of music director and chief conductor of the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, which he assumed in 1995, and music director of the Aspen Music Festival.