American Youth Philharmonic
January 19, 2020  I  3:00pm
Duke Ellington School of the Arts
3500 R St NW, Washington, DC 20007

Christopher Zimmerman, conductor and Music Director.

“Zimmerman has been injecting adrenalin into this determined ensemble…(and has) made the Fairfax players a serious force to be reckoned with.” – Stephen Brookes, The Washington Post.

Under the leadership, since 2009, of Music Director Christopher Zimmerman, the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, has received consistent praise from the media. Most recently in 2019 Anne Midgette commented in the Post “I’ve said before that the Fairfax Symphony would be the jewel of many smaller communities. Its dynamic, capable music director, Christopher Zimmerman, assembles smart and distinctive programs... Zimmerman, an adroit conductor, keeps verve and interest in each concert”

In 2013 Zimmerman was also appointed Music Director of the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony. From 2013 to 2018 he was the Principal Conductor of the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestras where he is now Principal Guest Conductor. He has also been the Music Director of the Carvalho Festival in Brazil, and, closer to home, a regular guest conductor at the Summer Performing Arts Festival in Wintergreen, Virginia. In 2018 Mr. Zimmerman was invited to Vietnam to conduct the Ho Chi Minh Symphony in Saigon and, in 2019, was re-invited to that orchestra as well as making his debut with the Vietnamese National Symphony in Hanoi.

Building on a career leading regional orchestras in the US and England, these most recent posts confirm what critics and audiences alike have experienced attending Zimmerman’s concerts. From his professional debut, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, of which The Daily Telegraph of London observed “Contact with the orchestra seemed immediate, the result a reading in which the playing responded keenly to gestures which themselves were expressive both of the symphony’s fiery vigour and of its finer nuances. Christopher Zimmerman revealed a sharp interpretative profile and control of orchestral timbre…. a most auspicious London debut.” to guest conducting in Cleveland with the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, where Donald Rosenberg of the Cleveland Plain Dealer described his performance as “some of the finest conducting at Severance (Hall) in recent years,” Zimmerman elicits enthusiasm and praise.

Zimmerman has conducted orchestras all over the world including the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Prague Symphony, the Slovak Philharmonic, the Turku Philharmonic, the Seoul Philharmonic, the Mexico City Philharmonic, the Caracas Philharmonic, National Orchestra of Rio de Janeiro, the Shenzhen Symphony, the Xiamen Symphony–to name a few.  His U.S. operatic debut conducting Carlisle Floyd’s  “Susannah” won the National Opera Association’s First prize as did Bright Sheng’s “Song of Majnun”, which he also conducted.  Zimmerman’s operatic repertoire is as diverse as it has proven successful, from Handel’s “Julius Caesar” through Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Strauss and Sheng.

Christopher’s career has also embraced teaching and working with student orchestras and conductors; in 1993 he joined the conducting faculty at the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati where he was Music Director of their concert orchestra, and in 1999 he was appointed Director of Orchestral Studies at the Hartt School as well as Music Director of the Hartt Symphony. A sought-after clinician and pedagogue, Mr. Zimmerman continues to teach at workshops and festivals around the world.

A champion of contemporary music, Zimmerman has conducted more than 30 premieres for orchestra by recognized composers such as William Bolcom, Martin Bresnick, Avner Dorman, Jennifer Higdon, Jonathan Leshnoff, Christopher Rouse, Bright Sheng, Chris Theofanidis, Ellen Taafe Zwilich and Judith Weir.  In 2012, Mr. Zimmerman gave the world premiere of "Lingua Angelorum” by Czech composer Sylvie Bodorova, a 50 minute song-cycle with the internationally renowned baritone Thomas Hampson and the Prague Symphony Orchestra. The following season he gave the U.S. premiere of her first symphony with the FSO.

Under Zimmerman’s direction, the Fairfax Symphony was honored as the 2013 winner of Washington Area Music Award (WAMMIE) for the best classical orchestra. Christopher Zimmerman was recognized as the winner of the American Conducting Prize in 2011, an award given for nationwide performances by orchestral conductors, choral conductors, and a host of other categories.

Christopher Zimmerman graduated from Yale with a B.A. in Music, and received his Master’s in conducting from the University of Michigan. He also studied with Seiji Ozawa and Gunther Schuller at Tanglewood. Immediately after that, Zimmerman served as an apprentice to Andrew Davis and the Toronto Symphony, and then in Prague, as assistant conductor to Vaclav Neumann and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.    

With a growing reputation for passionate and powerful performances, Korean-American violinist Brian Hong is forging a career as a soloist and chamber musician. Known for his commanding stage presence, palette of sonic colors, and honest interpretations, Mr. Hong has performed with such orchestras as the Springfield Symphony and the Juilliard Orchestra. A dedicated chamber musician, Mr. Hong’s festival credits include Marlboro, Yellow Barn, the Taos School of Music, Kneisel Hall, and the Perlman Music Program, as well as NEXUS Chamber Music Chicago, of which he is co-Artistic Director.

A native of Fairfax Station, VA, Mr. Hong is currently enrolled in Juilliard’s Artist Diploma program under the guidance of Laurie Smukler and Catherine Cho. Mr. Hong also serves as a Fellow with Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect from 2018-2020, performing in a variety of venues in NYC and abroad as well as maintaining a two-year teaching partnership with Celia Cruz High School of Music in the Bronx.  When he is not teaching or performing, Mr. Hong can often be found in one of New York’s many specialty coffee shops or brewing his own single origin beans in his apartment near Lincoln Center.