Florian Donderer, well-known for his energetic style and sophisticated interpretations, is a highly valued chamber music partner for many renowned musicians. His dynamic, clear and precise style makes him a welcome guest in the role of concertmaster in a number of Europe’s best ensembles. He is now increasingly in demand as a conductor who is able to use his extensive rehearsal experience as concertmaster as well as his grasp of chamber music to bring an orchestra to peak performance
Florian Donderer studied in Berlin and London with Bernhard Hartog, David Takeno and Prof. Thomas Brandis and was an assistant to Thomas Brandis at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin. During his studies, he held a scholarship from the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
He made his debut as a conductor in February 2010 with the Ensemble Oriol and Christiane Oelze at a concert in the Berlin Philharmonic Hall. This was followed by a CD recording with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Tanja Tetzlaff. He has successfully conducted the Kammerakademie Neuss, the Südwestdeutsche Kammerorchester Pforzheim, the Festival Strings Lucerne and the Neue Rheinische Kammerorchester.
He is a student of Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi and Leonid Grin.
From an early stage, he focused on chamber music as the centre of his musical work. He was a long-standing member of the Ensemble Oriol Berlin. Florian Donderer was a concertmaster of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen from 1999-2021, where he made a name for himself by directing from the concertmaster’s desk. In this position he is frequently asked to play with internationally renown orchestras, such as the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Kammerorchester Basel, Camerata Bern, Festival Strings Lucerne as well as the Filharmoonia Tallin.
Florian Donderer is also a frequent guest, as a chamber musician and soloist, at important festivals world-wide such as the Pärnu Festival in Estonia, the Ultima Festival in Oslo, the Bergen Festival, the Musik Triennale in Cologne, the Beethoven Festival in Bonn, as well as the festivals «Spannungen» in Heimbach and «Sommersprossen» in Rottweil, the MDR Musiksommer, the Ultraschall Festival in Berlin, the Festwochen Berlin, the Musikfest Bremen and the Musikfestival Mecklenburg Vorpommern.
Florian Donderer is the artistic director of the chamber music series residenz@sendesaal in the Sendesaal Bremen, where respected musicians have the opportunity to use the studio’s outstanding facilities for their CD productions and studio concerts. Regular guests here are, among others, Christian Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt. Recordings have received numerous awards, such as the Diapason d’Or, a Grammy Nomination, and have been included on the German Record Review’s list of best recordings.
Florian Donderer has appeared on CDs with, among others, Richard Strauss’ Metamorphosen with the Kammerakademie Potsdam under his direction (2004, Arte Nova) and Stravinsky’s L’histoire du soldat, conducted by Paavo Järvi, with Florian Donderer as concertmaster (2004, Pentatone). Various chamber music works, released by CAvi-Music, appeared on the CDs of the festival «Spannungen» from 2005, 2009 and 2012 (i.e. Piano Trios and Deux Interludes for flute, violin and harp). As a conductor he recorded Ernst Toch’s cello concert with Tanja Tetzlaff as soloist and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (2011, NEOS).
Florian Donderer plays a violin built by the German violin-maker Peter Greiner in 2003.