Conductor
Gerhardt Zimmermann joined the Breckenridge Music Festival as Music Director and Principal Conductor in 1993. Zimmermann also holds the positions of Music Director and Conductor of the Canton Symphony Orchestra (Canton, Ohio), and Director of Orchestral Activities at the University of Texas, Austin. He is currently Conductor Laureate of the North Carolina Symphony, having served 21 years as Music Director and Conductor of that orchestra.
Zimmermann is much in demand as guest conductor with orchestras across the country, including appearances with the Cleveland, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, New Jersey, Syracuse, Rochester, Louisiana and San Antonio orchestras; and internationally, including the Warsaw Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique de Paris, Toronto Symphony and Calgary Philharmonic orchestras.
Reviews of his guest appearances include the Denver Post’s, “…one would be hard pressed to recall a better account of Edward Elgar’s…‘Enigma’ Variations. Zimmermann, though with a score on the music desk before the podium, never opened it, and led the orchestra with command and sure concert. It was masterful, the orchestra responding with sonorous clarity.”
“Zimmermann and company created an exquisite reading of Elgar’s ‘Enigma’ Variations…the conductor, working from memory, made every note count. His control over the proceedings was complete, and the orchestra responded with some of its finest playing of the season.” (Rocky Mountain News)
Leading the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, DC) in a five-concert Beethoven festival, accolades from the press came under the headline Heavenly Seventh: “one of the marvels of Maestro Zimmermann’s baton was the subtlety of the rubato. When tempos fluctuated, they did so naturally…The full power of the National Symphony…arrived gravely, magnificently under Maestro Zimmermann’s guidance.” (The Washington Times)
As comfortable in the pit as on the concert stage, Zimmerman has conducted staged works of Mozart, Verdi, Strauss, Puccini and Gershwin. Press response to his debut with the Cleveland Opera, conducting Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, includes “Zimmermann…went on to lead a warm, vivid reading… The orchestra responded with a keen blend of ensemble finesse and solo suavity.” (Cleveland Plain Dealer) “I’ve rarely heard the orchestra sound so full or play more expressively than under…Zimmermann.” (The Akron Beacon Journal)
American born, Zimmermann lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his wife, Sharon, and their two children, Anna Marie and Peter Karl Irum.
Mr. Zimmermann is a dedicated advocate for people with disabilities, donating his time for speaking engagements and conferences on behalf of organizations serving people with disabilities. He has served on the National Board of Easter Seals.
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HIGHLIGHTS
Winter Concert Series Tickets are now ON SALE! From a Choral Concert featuring Bach to Beatles, Chamber Music Featuring the Concert Master of the Dallas Symphony and an enchanting night with music from Elizabeth Hainen on Harp, this year’s winter series has something for everyone. Click Here for more information
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NEWS FLASH FROM APPLAUSE!
“Entertaining! Summit Style.”
This one-of-a kind, keepsake book shares the secrets to the culinary best of Summit County cooking.The book is available locally in downtown Breckenridge at Bay Street Company, 232 S. Main & at Breckenridge Spice Merchants, 226 S. Main. In Frisco, The Next Page Bookstore, 409 E. Main.
The book can also be purchased by calling the BMF office at 970-453-9142. Click here for the order form. Copies are $24.95 each.
Support BMF and treat your friends and family for the holiday season.
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