Konstantin Krimmel, of German-Romanian descent, received his first musical training with the St. Georgs Chorknaben in Ulm. At the age of 21, he began studying voice with Prof. Teru Yoshihara, graduating with honors in 2020. Since then, he has been mentored by Tobias Truniger in Munich. Even during his studies, the artist developed a special love for the concert and song repertoire, which he has steadily expanded. Winning numerous competitions has significantly advanced his career. From 2021 to 2023, Konstantin Krimmel was supported as a BBC New Generation Artist. In 2023, he was named Best Young Artist by the “Oper! Awards“ and “Best Young Singer“ by Opernwelt, and in 2024 he won the Opus Klassik award in the category Singer of the Year.
Since fall 2021, Konstantin Krimmel has been a member of the Bavarian State Opera ensemble, where he can be heard in the central roles of his repertoire. His roles there include Zoroastro (Orlando), Roberto/Nardo (La finta giardiniera), Belcore (L’elisir d’amore), Yoshio in Hanjo and Matthias in Thomas, both by Georg Friedrich Haas, Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Harlequin (Ariadne auf Naxos), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro) and Don Giovanni. In 2024, he also sang Olivier (Capriccio) under the baton of Christian Thielemann at the Salzburg Festival.
He has worked with renowned orchestras such as the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, and the RIAS Chamber Choir. His musical partners include Vladimir Jurowski, Kent Nagano, Stefano Montanari, Sebastian Weigle, Justin Doyle, Jakub Hrůša, Philippe Herreweghe, Thomas Hengelbrock, and Sir Simon Rattle.
As already mentioned, song has a special significance for Konstantin Krimmel. Recital evenings have already taken him to the Cologne Philharmonic Hall, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, concert halls in Berlin and Vienna, the Frankfurt Opera, the Heidelberg Spring Festival, the Schubertiada de Vilabertran, the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Madrid, London (Wigmore Hall), New York (Armory Hall and, in December 2025, 92nd Street), the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and the Oxford Lied Festival.
The 2025/26 season has a lot of exciting projects lined up: in Hamburg, he'll be doing the orchestral version of Ralph Vaughan-Williams' Songs of Travel with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra under Andris Poga, and in Salzburg, Haydn's Schöpfung with the Berlin Philharmonic under Daniel Harding. He will tour with Richard Strauss' songs together with the Staatskapelle Berlin under Christian Thielemann (Strauss’ Songs) from Berlin to Munich and Vienna, and he will perform Bach's St. John Passion with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra under Peter Whelan in Barcelona, London, and Budapest. At the Bavarian State Opera, he will appear as Dr. Falke (Die Fledermaus), Dandini (La Cenerentola), Don Giovanni, and in the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro. He will also appear as Figaro in a new production at the Gran Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona. Nearly 30 recitals will take him to Vienna, Amsterdam, Oxford, Madrid, Basel, the Schubertiade Hohenems/Schwarzenberg, Munich, and New York, where he will perform the three Schubert cycles.
His album “Mythos“, recorded with Ammiel Bushakevitz (piano), was recently released on the Alpha label. His recording of Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin with Daniel Heide (piano), also released on Alpha in 2023, was awarded the German Record Critics' Prize. In spring 2023, the album “Silent Songs” (Silvestrov) was released, which he recorded together with Hélène Grimaud for Deutsche Grammophon. The second album with Hélène Grimaud, entitled “For Clara” (songs by Johannes Brahms and piano works by Robert Schumann), was also released by Deutsche Grammophon in autumn 2023. Previously, his song CD "Franz Liszt - Der du vom Himmel bist“ with Daniel Heide and, in autumn 2022, the CD entitled ”Zauberoper in Wien" (arias by Gluck, Wranitzky, Schack, Mozart, Haydn, and von Winter) accompanied by the Hofkapelle München under Rüdiger Lotter on the Alpha label.
Tabea Zimmermann is a musician of extraordinary versatility. As an internationally sought-after soloist, chamber musician and educator, she has made a profound impact on musical life far beyond the concert stage. At the heart of her artistic work is the viola – both as an instrument of exceptional expressive potential and as a reflection of her deeply held artistic convictions.
A native of southern Baden, Tabea Zimmermann made her debut at the Berliner Philharmonie at the age of eleven. Major competition successes in Geneva, Paris and Budapest followed, and at just 21 she was appointed Germany’s youngest-ever professor. Teaching has remained an integral part of her work ever since; she currently teaches at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt and at the Kronberg Academy.
Contemporary music has always been a particular focus of her artistic work. Numerous works by composers including György Ligeti, Heinz Holliger, Wolfgang Rihm, Enno Poppe and Michael Jarrell have been dedicated to her or premiered by her. For Tabea Zimmermann, engaging with new music is inseparable from the continued evolution of classical approaches to interpretation. Chamber music is as central to her work as the “Play & Lead” principle, in which she leads orchestral projects from within the ensemble itself. In recent years, she has pursued this approach as Artistic Partner of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, as well as with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Bundesjugendorchester and in numerous projects with Ensemble Resonanz.
This multifaceted artistic outlook is once again reflected in her 2026/27 season, in which Tabea Zimmermann will continue to set significant artistic benchmarks on stages around the world. The season opens with a highlight of contemporary music at the Musica Festival in Strasbourg, where she performs Georges Aperghis’ Tell Tales together with the vocal ensemble EXAUDI. Further highlights include Hector Berlioz’s Harold en Italie at the Wiener Musikverein with the RSO Wien under Ingo Metzmacher, as well as a trio tour of Austria and Switzerland with her long-standing chamber music partners Isabelle Faust and Jean-Guihen Queyras. She begins 2027 with performances in Stuttgart and Freiburg, appearing with the SWR Symphonieorchester under François-Xavier Roth in York Höller’s Viola Concerto.
Spain is a particular geographical focus of the season. In Madrid, Tabea Zimmermann performs Paul Hindemith’s Der Schwanendreher with the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España under Kristiina Poska, followed by Béla Bartók’s Viola Concerto with the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla under Lucas Macías. A major European trio tour with Jean-Guihen Queyras and Javier Perianes takes her to leading concert halls in Alicante, Madrid and Barcelona, followed by a duo recital tour of Italy with Javier Perianes, with performances in Turin, Siena, Rome and Florence.
International chamber music engagements and guest appearances round out the season. Highlights include a duo recital with Antoine Tamestit at Berlin’s Pierre Boulez Saal, a chamber music evening with Kirill Gerstein at the Wiener Musikverein and William Walton’s Viola Concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under Andris Poga. With the Kammerakademie Potsdam, she performs Bohuslav Martinů’s Rhapsody-Concerto. The season culminates in the world premiere of a new work by Milica Djordjević as part of the Bayerischer Rundfunk’s musica viva series at the Herkulessaal, with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks conducted by Brad Lubman.
Tabea Zimmermann’s outstanding contribution to music has been recognised with numerous honours, including the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 2020, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and honorary membership of the Deutscher Musikrat. Few musicians embody artistic integrity, intellectual independence and a profound commitment to music with as much conviction as Tabea Zimmermann.
Frank Peter Zimmermann is widely recognised as one of the foremost violinists of his generation, praised for his selfless musicality, his technical brilliance and keen intelligence. For more than four decades he has been working with the world’s major orchestras and renowned conductors. His many concert engagements take him to all important concert venues and international music festivals in Europe, the United States, Asia, South America and Australia.
During the 2026/27 season Mr. Zimmermann will be adding William Walton’s Violin Concerto to his already extensive and varied repertoire. Performances are scheduled with, among others, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester and Alan Gilbert, Orquesta Nacional de España and David Afkham, Orchestre National de Lyon and Philippe Jordan and the KBS Symphony Orchestra and Michael Sanderling. He also returns to Hindemith’s Violin Concerto, which he will perform with, among others, the Bayerisches Staatsorchester and Vladimir Jurowski, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and Paavo Järvi, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Elim Chan, NDR Radiophilharmonie and Stanislav Kochanovsky, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck, Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Gustavo Gimeno, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and Elias Grandy and the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg and Martin Rajna.
Together with pianist Dmytro Choni he will be giving recitals in various cities in Europe with a Schubert, Webern, Schoenberg programme.
Over the years Mr. Zimmermann has built up an impressive discography for BIS Records, Warner Classics, Sony Classical, hänssler CLASSIC, Ondine, Decca, Teldec Classics and ECM Records. He has recorded virtually all major concerto repertoire, ranging from Bach to Ligeti, as well as recital repertoire. Many of these highly acclaimed recordings have received prestigious awards and prizes worldwide.
Most recent releases on BIS Records include a highly praised recording of Edward Elgar’s Violin Concerto, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Edward Gardner, as well as a first duo album with Dmytro Choni with works by Bartók and Szymanowski. Previous releases include recordings of Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto, coupled with Martinů’s Suite concertante and Bartók’s Rhapsodies nos. 1 and 2 with the Bamberger Symphoniker and Jakub Hrůša, the complete Sonatas and Partitas by J.S. Bach and the complete Sonatas for piano and violin by Beethoven with Martin Helmchen.
He received numerous special prizes and honours, among which the Premio del Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Siena(1990), the Rheinischer Kulturpreis (1994), the Musikpreis of the city of Duisburg (2002), the Bundesverdienstkreuz 1. Klasse der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (2008) and the Paul-Hindemith-Preis der Stadt Hanau (2010).
In 2010 he founded the Trio Zimmermann with viola player Antoine Tamestit and cellist Christian Poltéra; the trio performed in all major music centres and festivals in Europe. Their last concert took place in 2019. BIS Records released award-winning CD recordings of works for string trio by J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Schoenberg and Hindemith.
Mr. Zimmermann has given world premieres of Magnus Lindberg’s violin concerto no. 2, Matthias Pintscher’s violin concerto en sourdine, Brett Dean’s violin concerto The Lost Art of Letter Writing and of Augusta Read Thomas’ violin concerto no. 3 Juggler in Paradise.
Born in 1965 in Duisburg, Germany, he started playing the violin when he was 5 years old, giving his first concert with orchestra at the age of 10. He studied with Valery Gradov, Saschko Gawriloff and Herman Krebbers.
Frank Peter Zimmermann plays on the 1711 Antonio Stradivari violin Lady Inchiquin, which is kindly provided by the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Kunst im Landesbesitz.
