Christian Zacharias Piano

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Christian Zacharias is a remarkable musical explorer - as both a conductor and pianist, he is known for his uncompromising individuality and thoughtful approach to concert programming. The New York Times described his elegance in performance, reporting, "Playing and conducting became two aspects of an organic whole: a gesture of the pianist's hand, coming off a run of notes like water, became a conductor's flourish, passing the idea to the strings, then reclaiming it again for the keyboard in a second movement that shimmered with the surface tension of stopped time."

The Los Angeles Times has raved, "He is a tasteful, satisfying player who shapes every phrase with subtle, personal nuances and has an electric sense of rhythm . . . Watching him conduct seemed almost like spying on a visual artist; his gestures are reminiscent of a painter applying oils and of a sculptor molding materials . . . he acts as though the music were a physical substance to be molded in air, his hands, body, face all employed to shape phrases."

Zacharias launched his conducting career in 1992 with a debut with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and has since been a regular guest of all of the major European orchestras. In 2000, he made his US conducting debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and in 2006 conducted the New York Philharmonic Orchestra for the first time. Since then, he has led many of the top American orchestras.

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