Michael Zukernik conductor
Switzerland
At the age of 19 years, Michael Zukernik, trained as a classical percussionist, was the youngest member of the Israeli Symphony orchestra Rishon LeZion. During his subsequent career he performed as a solo timpani player with such ensembles as the Spanish Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona y Nacional de Catalunya and the Auckland Philharmonia in New Zealand. His first conducting lessons with Jorma Panula led Michael Zukernik to Finland, Sweden, Germany, Russia and Croatia. He has also participated in master classes with Colin Metter, Leif Segerstam, Otto Werner Mueller, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Vladimir_Ponkin, Gustav Meier, Janosh Fürst, Sir Colin Davis and Pierre Boulez. After extensive conducting studies, he graduated from the Berlin University of the arts, at the University of music and performing arts in Vienna and at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden.
Later he took part in the numerous conducting masterclasses in Germany, among others there were the Staatskapelle Weimar, the Symphony Orchestra Wuppertal, the Beethoven orchestra Bonn, the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, the Göttingen Symphony Orchestra and the Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, the Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Berliner Philharmonie in Berlin Cathedral, the Beethovenhalle in Bonn and the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg. Besides he had several engagements with the Sinfonica di Roma, the Russian State Academic Symphony orchestra Svetlanov, the Russian national orchestra, the State Academic Symphony orchestra of St. Petersburg, the Moscow Symphony orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic chamber orchestra, Manukau City Symphony Orchestra in new Zealand and the Macao orchestra in China. In addition, in the 2011/2012 season he was first guest conductor of the state academic Philharmonic Orchestra in Samara, Russia. Michael zukernik has collaborated with pianist Andrei Gavrilov in particular, performing with him at the Kodály centre in Pécs (Hungary), the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Tonhalle Zurich and the Kultur - und Kongresszentrum Luzern (KKL). In 2002 he founded the Berlin Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra. The Ensemble has played in concert halls in Germany and Switzerland, especially in the Konzerthaus Berlin and the Gewandhaus in Leipzig. Zukernik led his chamber orchestra on a tour of South Korea, where he conducted ten concerts followed by the tour in China. The concerts took place at the Shanghai Opera House and the Cultural Center Beijing, among others. Michael zukernik's Repertoire ranges from baroque to modern opera. He is fluent in Russian, German, English, French, Hebrew and Spanish. He currently lives in Zurich with his wife and two children.