Florian Donderer (violin) received his first musical training from Myrna Nordstrom and Bernhard Hartog in Berlin. After studies under David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, he completed his training in Berlin with Thomas Brandis, whose assistant he was for many years. He was a scholarship holder at the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. From 2001 to 2004 he was concertmaster of the Kammerakademie Potsdam and was professor of violin at the North Netherlands Conservatory in Groningen from 2002 to 2008. Florian Donderer is currently concertmaster of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.
A major focus of his musical career has been his work with chamber orchestras. Whether as concertmaster, soloist, or – recently – also as conductor, Florian Donderer often assumes the artistic direction of his two orchestras or other ensembles as a welcome guest. During the coming seasons, Florian Donderer will continue to lead the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen as concertmaster and director on numerous concert tours, collaborating with such outstanding soloists as Lisa Batiashvili, Martin Fröst, and David Fray. He will conduct the Ensemble Oriol Berlin in a concert with Christiane Oelze as well as a recording of Ernst Toch's Cello Concerto with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Tanja Tetzlaff. He is also responsible for preparations for the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen's recordings of the Schumann symphonies with Paavo Järvi.
Florian Donderer is an enthusiastic chamber musician. He often performs with his partner, Tanja Tetzlaff, her brother, Christian, and other musician friends, including Lars Vogt, Gunilla Süssmann, Antje Weithaas, Hanna Weinmeister, Sergio Azzolini, Hans-Kristian Kjos Sørensen, and Ingo Goritzki. He appears at major festivals, such as the Cologne Music Triennale, the Beethovenfest Bonn, Berlin's Ultraschall Festival, the Ultima Festival in Oslo, the Vestfold Festival in Tonsberg, Norway, and Helsinki's Early Music Week, and is a frequent guest at Lars Vogt's Spannungen Festival in Heimbach, Germany. Florian Donderer is particularly interested in different performance practices. Since 2006 he has performed regularly on historical instruments as concertmaster of the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble under Thomas Hengelbrock. In the Sheridan Ensemble he plays Baroque, Classical or modern violin in repertoire ranging from 1650 up until the present day.
