Кристоф Эшенбах: Неміс пианисті және дирижері

German pianist and conductor

Christoph Eschenbach (; born 20 February 1940) is a German pianist and conductor.

Eschenbach was born on 20 February 1940 in Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland) as Christoph Ringmann. His parents were Margarethe (née Jaross), a singer and teacher of piano, and Heribert Ringmann, a conductor and musicologist in Breslau and Posen. He was orphaned during World War II. His mother died giving birth to him. His father continued to conduct until the very end of 1943, when he conducted the Brahms Requiem in Breslau, before being inducted into the German army. He was killed by Russian forces in Thuringen in 1945. His grandmother cared for him, but she died in the winter of 1945/46 at a refugee camp in Mecklenburg. As a result of this trauma, Eschenbach did not speak for a year, until he was asked if he wanted to play music. Wallydore Eschenbach (née Jaross), his mother's cousin, adopted him in 1946 and began to teach him to play the piano from 1948 through 1959. He lived with Wallydore and her husband Wolfram Eschenbach in Wismar, then in Neustadt in Holstein. At age 11, he attended a concert conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler which had a great impact on him. In 1955, Eschenbach enrolled at the Musikhochschule in Cologne, studying piano with Hans Otto Schmidt Neuhaus and conducting with Wilhelm Brückner Rüggeberg. He also completed his Abitur at the Einhard Gymnasium in Aachen in 1959. He then pursued studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg with Eliza Hansen (piano) and Wilhelm Brückner Rüggeberg (conducting).

As a pianist, Eschenbach has won numerous first place piano competition prizes, including first prize in the Clara Haskil Competition in Vevey, Switzerland in 1965. In 1964, he made his first recording (of Mozart) for Deutsche Grammophon and signed a contract with the label. Eschenbach continued to study conducting with George Szell, with whom he worked for more than three years. In addition, he counted Herbert von Karajan as a mentor. As a pianist, he is particularly known for his Schubert and Mozart recordings, the latter often together with Justus Frantz. With him as well as with Tzimon Barto he played piano music for four hands or two grand pianos. In 1981, Eschenbach became principal guest conductor of the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, and was chief conductor from 1982 to 1986. He was co artistic director of the Pacific Music Festival from 1992 to 1998. He was chief conductor of the NDR Symphony Orchestra, Hamburg from 1998 to 2004. He was artistic director of the Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival from 1999 until 2003, and became principal conductor of the Schleswig Holstein Festival Orchestra in 2003. From 2000 to 2010, Eschenbach was music director of the Orchestre de Paris. In the United States, Eschenbach was music director of the Houston Symphony Orchestra from 1988 to 1999. The orchestra toured Japan and Europe under his tenure as well made several recordings with Koch International Classics and RCA. In honour of his achievements and tenure with the Houston Symphony, the City of Houston placed a bronze commemorative star with his name in front of Jones Hall, the performance home of the Houston Symphony. He was music director of the Ravinia Festival from 1994 to 2005. Eschenbach has made more than 80 recordings as piano soloist, conductor, or both, has appeared in several television documentaries, and has made many concert broadcasts for different European, Japanese and U. S. networks. Eschenbach is credited with helping and supporting talented young musicians in their career development, including soprano Renée Fleming, pianists Tzimon Barto and Lang Lang, cellists Claudio Bohórquez [de], and Daniel Müller Schott, and soprano Marisol Montalvo.

In September 2008, the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) appointed Eschenbach as its sixth music director, effective with the 2010–2011 season, as well as the newly created music director of the Kennedy Center. In September 2011, the NSO and the Kennedy Center announced the extension of Eschenbach's contract through the 2014–2015 season. In March 2014, the organisations announced an extension of Eschenbach's contract through the 2016–2017 season. In February 2015, the NSO announced that Eschenbach was to conclude his tenure as NSO music director at the end of the 2016–2017 season. Eschenbach subsequently took the title of conductor laureate of the NSO. Moreover, he has been honorary conductor of the Bamberg Symphony since 2016. In November 2017, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin announced the appointment of Eschenbach as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2019–2020 season, with an initial contract of 3 years. In July 2021, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin announced the extension of Eschenbach's contract through the 2022–2023 season. He stood down from the Konzerthausorchester Berlin post at the close of the 2022–2023 season. In January 2022, the Copenhagen Philharmonic announced the appointment of Eschenbach as its æres gæstedirigent (honorary guest conductor), for a period of two seasons, following his debut with the orchestra in the autumn of 2021. In January 2024, the National Forum of Music (NFM) in Wrocław announced the appointment of Eschenbach as its next artistic director, effective with the 2024 2025 season, with an initial contract of 5 seasons.