Ronald Zollman
Ronald Zollman, was born in Antwerp (Belgium), where he began his musical training at the age of four. He later became a student of Igor Markevitch and Nadia Boulanger in France, and also of Hans Swarowsky and Franco Ferrara in Austria and Italy. His career has expanded rapidly since the beginning. He appeared as a guest conductor with important orchestras on all continents : BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Residentie Orchestra, Orchester des Hessischen Rundfunks, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker, Swedish Radio Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, and many more. He was also the guest of many major festivals as Edinburgh, Flanders, Warsaw Autumn, Festival Estival in Paris, Gulbenkian in Lisbon, London Proms, etc.
Now as the Principal Guest Conductor of the Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra, Ronald ZOLLMAN, not only that he dedicates himself to the great symphonic works of the traditional repertoire but he is also very creative in the field of opera and he is well known for his interest in contemporary music. In the theatre, he conducted a large number of performances at the Brussels La Monnaie Opera House (a.o. Don Giovanni, Cosi fan Tutte, La Bohème, Albert Herring and A Rake’s Progress), and the performances of La Traviata, which he led at London’s English National Opera, were soon followed by a series The Turn of the Screw with Scottish Opera. For the BBC he recorded Henze’s Der Prinz von Homburg, while his Don Giovanni for the Banff Summer Festival was considered as the highlight of this major event in Canada. In the USA, he is well known for his performances of French romantic operas at Indiana Opera, such as Manon, Cendrillon or Romeo and Juliet. As far as contemporary music is concerned, Ronald ZOLLMAN has worked regularly with the London Sinfonietta, and at Pierre Boulez’s request he has been a frequent guest with the Ensemble InterContemporain, in Paris and on tours.
From 1989 till 1993
Ronald ZOLLMAN was Musical Director of the National Orchestra of Belgium, a position he then held since 1993 with the Philharmonic Orchestra of UNAM in Mexico City.
In September 2002
He became the Music Directorship and Principal Conductorship of the Northern Israel Symphony in Haifa.
From 2009 until 2013
He was Director of Orchestral Studies at the Carnegie Mellon School of Music in Pittsburgh as well as the Music Director of their Philharmonic Orchestra. (Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic Orchestra)
In May 2007
Ronald ZOLLMAN made his debut with the Orchestre de Paris at Salle Pleyel (Paris), conducting them at the occasion of their tribute concert to the memory of Mstislav Rostropovitch.
In the summer of 2008
He shared the musical direction of the Orchestra Academica of the Campos do Jordao Festival (Brazil) with Kurt Masur.
In April 2010
He had his debut at Carnegie Hall in New York
In April 2011
He conducted for the 1st time at Washington’s Kennedy Centre. Beside his activities in the Czech Republic, his plans for future include concerts a.o. in Sweden, Spain, France, Mexico, China and the USA.