Kaspar Zehnder

Biography

Foto: Guy Perrenoud.
Kaspar Zehnder was born in the pre-alpine region of Canton of Bern/Switzerland. He has been principal conductor of the Philharmonie Hradec Králové since 2018 and led the Sinfonie Orchester Biel Solothurn from 2012-2022. After school, he studied flute and conducting in Bern, Paris, Siena and at the European Mozart Academy. He was Artistic Director of the Murten Classics Festival from 1999-2020 and Musical Director at the Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern from 2004 to 2012. Since 2015 he has been in charge of the Klangantrisch Festival in his birthplace Riggisberg. He repeatedly goes on chamber music tours with Magdalena Kožená, Sir Simon Rattle and other friends. Kaspar Zehnder conducts leading orchestras throughout Europe. His repertoire includes countless symphonic and vocal works from the great oratorios of J.S. Bach to the ensemble music of our time. He has conducted nearly the entire symphonic main works of the Classical and Romantic periods, with an emphasis on all that is unknown, new and newly discovered. His recording of the orchestral works of the Swiss late Romantic composer Joseph Lauber for Schweizer Fonogramm with the Symphony Orchestra Biel Solothurn won international acclaim. In the field of opera, he recently successfully appeared with productions of Eugene Onegin (Massy 2022), Rusalka (Metz 2023) and the world premiere of Fabian Müller's "Eiger" and «Heidi» (Biel-Solothurn 2021/23).