Georgian Chamber Orchestra Ingolstadt & Ariel Zuckermann
Biography Georgian Chamber Orchestra Ingolstadt & Ariel Zuckermann
Ariel Zuckermann
is a musical free spirit and a daring innovator. His extensive repertoire, spanning various musical eras, is reflected in his sophisticated and nuanced programming. His technical and artistic demands, combined with boundless creativity, energy, and humanity, consistently draw orchestras, soloists, and audiences to him.
In 2020, he was appointed chief conductor of the Georgian Chamber Orchestra Ingolstadt, a position he previously held until 2013. He also maintains a close and regular collaboration with the Posen Philharmonic Orchestra, where he was named principal guest conductor for the 2023/24 season. From 2015 to 2023, he served as music director of the prestigious Israel Chamber Orchestra, actively shaping the Israeli music landscape and cultural policy.
Originally trained as a flutist, Ariel Zuckermann began his conducting career in 2001. Since then, he has conducted renowned ensembles such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the German Symphony Orchestra Berlin, the Tonkünstler Orchestra, the Riga Sinfonietta, the Bavarian State Orchestra, the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, the KBS Radio Orchestra in Seoul, the Bremen Philharmoniker, the Hungarian National Philharmonic, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic, the Bamberg Symphony, the German Radio Philharmonic, the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, the Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra, the Haydn Orchestra Bolzano, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, and the Zurich, Basel, and Stuttgart Chamber Orchestras, as well as the Camerata Salzburg. He made his opera debut at the Munich Gärtnerplatz Theater, and numerous concerts and projects have been recorded.
As a flautist, Ariel Zuckermann is a multiple prizewinner of national and international competitions and has performed as a soloist and chamber musician worldwide. He is also a member of the renowned Swiss Klezmer band Kolsimcha – The World Quintet, with whom he has made several recordings, including a recent project with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Zuckermann studied flute with Paul Meisen and András Adorján at the Munich Hochschule für Musik. He furthered his studies with Alain Marion and Aurèle Nicolet. His conducting studies began under Jorma Panula at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, and in May 2004, he completed his conducting diploma under Bruno Weil at the Munich Hochschule für Musik.
Georgian Chamber Orchestra Ingolstadt
Since moving to Germany in 1990, the Georgian Chamber Orchestra has been based in Ingolstadt. The former orchestra-in-exile has become a fixture in cultural life both locally and further afield through the support of the City of Ingolstadt, Audi and the Sparkasse Ingolstadt. The ensemble’s season concerts, the first of which debuted in 2001, enjoy consistently high subscription rates.
The ensemble was founded in 1964 in Tbilisi/Georgia, as the Georgian State Chamber Orchestra; in 2014 it celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. Whilst on tour in the west, the orchestra decided to move to Germany. After twenty-six years based in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, the orchestra decided to move to Ingolstadt, which has become its second home for the last thirty-three years. The new life in Bavaria is nothing other than a continuation of the old, under different conditions. Continuity is a principle of this very Eastern European orchestra, which has always stayed true to its character, despite exile. Even today, the orchestra still consists mostly of musicians from Georgia, the former Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe.
The orchestra celebrated its thirtieth birthday as the Georgian Chamber Orchestra Ingolstadt in 2020. Their success story is unique in the history of not only German orchestras.
The orchestra has been strongly artistically influenced by its former director of many years, the violinist Liana Issakadze, as well as by conductors such as Lord Yehudi Menuhin and Kurt Masur. Between 2000 and 2006, Markus Poschner headed the ensemble, followed by Ariel Zuckermann until 2011. Lavard Skou Larsen then became chief conductor. In 2014 the Los Angeles-born conductor Benjamin Shwartz was Artistic Director, and in 2015 the orchestra was lead under the baton of the Armenian Ruben Gazarian. Gazarian has been Artistic Director of the renowned Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn since 2002. He remained chief conductor until Ariel Zuckermann’s return in 2021.
Distinguished guest conductors and a phalanx of exceptional international artistic personalities have also appeared with the orchestra, for example David Oistrach, Barbara Hendricks, Svjatoslav Richter and Daniil Shafran. In more recent times Heinrich Schiff, Tabea Zimmermann, Juan Diego Florez, Gidon Kremer, Edita Gruberova, Giora Feidman, Eliso Virsaladze, Lynn Harrell, Rudolf Buchbinder, Christian Zacharias, Lisa Batiashvili, François Leleux, Natalia Gutman, Sharon Kam, Diana Damrau, Zoltán Kocsis, Alfredo Perl, the KOLSIMCHA ensemble, Gilles Apap, Maxim Vengerov, Nikolai Tokarev and Khatia Buniatishvili have provided further artistic impulses. In 2015 the violinist and conductor Julian Rachlin performed with the orchestra in Ingolstadt for the first time as “Artist in Residence”.
The Georgian Chamber Orchestra Ingolstadt considers itself an ensemble not only responsible for a significantly broad repertoire, but also as a cultural ambassador for the City of Ingolstadt. This involves activities beyond season concerts. The orchestra gives about ninety concerts a year at music festivals, such as the Kreuth International Music Festival or the Oettinger Residenz Concerts. It also performs abroad, for example in Spain, France, Georgia, Austria and in Switzerland. It has also been a fixture in the Audi Summer Concert Series for many years.
Since 2010, the ensemble has been supported by the Free State of Bavaria as a non-state orchestra.
