CHRISTOPHZIMPER
PROJECTS&RECORDINGS
The multifaceted nature of Christoph Zimper is reflected by the diversity of his projects.
Check out his current fields of activity:
Founded in 2015 by Christoph Zimper and Christian Knaller, the Weissensee Klassik Festival has since evolved to a musical highlight in the cultural landscape of Carinthia. The idea of music as a unifying element is paramount to the festival’s overarching concept, which manifests itself in the diversity of projects and the great variety of ensembles performing. Located at one of Austria’s most beautiful lakes, the festival amazes its audience every year anew with its innovative concepts, internationally acclaimed musicians and unparalleled hearing pleasure.
Just a few years into his career, Christoph Zimper found himself the solo clarinetist with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, and in great demand as an orchestra- and chamber musician. In 2018, he decided to leave the orchestral jobs behind and find out how to express existential matters – like an “intensely perceived moment”, for example, “that may look perfectly unremarkable from the outside” – in a musical language of his own. Or how one might use musical means to get Millennials – to which he belongs himself – to ponder the eternal questions of life. Here now is Zimper’s fascinating debut album as a composer, for which he has asked a selection of hand-picked soloists, the Eggner-Trio, and the group Plattform K+K Vienna to join him in the studio.
Published by col legno, 2021
VIENNAWINDQUINTET
Christoph Zimper is a member of the woodwind-quintet Vienna Wind Quintet, which is composed of renowned wind instrument players. Apart from Zimper, the quintet consists of Karin Teresa Bonelli, Sophie Dervaux and Herbert Maderthaner - all three of them members of the Vienna Philharmonics - as well as Félix Dervaux, former solo hornist at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam and winner of the ARD-music competition.
Christoph Zimper is a founding member of the Wiener Klangkommune, which was founded in 2011 as a chamber music ensemble with variable line-ups. From Duos to Decets, the Wiener Klangkommune focuses on rarely performed chamber music works. The ensemble’s members are connected by longterm friendships and are represented in the most accomplished Austrian orchestras.
The composition competition of the Vienna Tonkünstlerverein in 1896 under honorary president Johannes Brahms intended to promote chamber music "which uses at least one wind instrument" and resulted in 18 submissions, twelve of which were selected for five concerts. The first and third placed works of this competition, namely the Clarinet Quartet in E flat major Op. 1 by Walter Rabl (world premiere recording) and the Clarinet Trio in D minor Op. 3 by Alexander Zemlinsky were now recorded for this CD by Christoph Zimper, clarinet, Kristina Suklar, violin, Florian Eggner, cello and Peter Ovtcharov, piano.
Published by Gramola Records, 2020
Christoph Zimper is a member of the ensemble Plattform K+K Vienna, founded by the violinist Kirill Kobantschenko, first violin of the Wiener Philharmoniker. Accomplished Viennese musicians join Kobantschenko in this passionate project which is characterized by a wide musical horizon ranging from classical music over jazz to electronic music. K+K thus can be understood as an homage to the "kaiserlich-königliche" music tradition of Austria.
The idea to establish the ensemble as a platform represents the desire for maximal freedom and for a creative breeding ground, which due to the changing line-up offers surprising auditory experiences to the listener.
Presented for the first time during the Weissensee Klassik Festival 2020, the "Kuah-Konzert“ enjoyed immense success resulting in an extension of this concept. In his self-produced film "Der Halter" the photographer and shepherd Johannes Buchinger introduces us to life as a shepherd on an alp. Following a musical concept by Florian Willeitner, the visual atmosphere is enhanced by classical chamber music, original compositions and improvisations. The result is a touching symbiosis between cinema, concert and nature.