President of the Jury Cello
The Lithuanian cellist and conductor David Geringas belongs to the musical elite of today. An unusually broad repertoire from the early Baroque to the contemporary is testament to the flexibility and curiosity of the artist. His intellectual rigor, his stylistic versatility, his melodic feeling, and the sensuousness of his tone have brought him praise all over the world. The Rostropovich pupil and gold-medal winner of the 1970 Tchaikovsky Competition can now look back on a career that has spanned decades.
David Geringas has performed world-wide with some of the leading orchestras, and important conductors of our time. His discography, which now approaches 100 CDs, includes many that have been honoured with important prizes, including the Grand Prix du Disque, the Diapason d’Or de l’Année and the prize of the year from the Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. In 2013 he received the ECHO award for the best chamber music recording of the 20th/21st Century (Braunfels/Strauss, Profil Edition Günter Hänssler) and in 2014 for the best chamber music recording of the 19th century (Pohádka, C2 Hamburg / ES DUR).
Well-known contemporary composers such as Sofia Gubaidulina, Ned Rorem, Pēteris Vasks and Erkki-Sven Tüür have dedicated cello concertos to him. He has premiered many works of the Russian and Lithuanian avant-garde in the West. In 2002, he gave the world premiere of the Concerto in Do by Anatolijus Šenderovas which was dedicated to him, and won the European Composers Prize in Berlin.
As conductor, David Geringas appears regularly in Germany and abroad, and appears frequently in a dual role as cellist and conductor. Besides the invitations from the citadels of West and East European music centres, he has received invitations from Asia and the USA. From 2005 to 2008, he was chief guest conductor for the Kyushu Philharmonic Orchestra and in 2007 he had his debut at the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra und the China Philharmonic Orchestra.
In February 2009, he made his debut as conductor with the Moscow Philharmonic and in 2015 with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra. David Geringas has for decades taught a world-famous cello class from which have come such cello stars as Gustav Rivinius, Jens Peter Maintz, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, Monika Leskovar, Tatjana Vassiljeva, Jing Zhao, Johannes Moser, Maximilian Hornung and Sol Gabetta.
He was awarded the Verdienstkreuz 1. Klasse of Germany for his achievements as musician and cultural ambassador for the country on the international musical scene. David Geringas is honorary professor at the Moscow Conservatory, St. Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory and at the Central Conservatory in Beijing, as well as having received an honorary doctorate from the Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy.
David Geringas was visiting professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. He had Several jury presidencies in prestigious competitions such as the Schoenfeld International Cello Competition in Harbin or the George Enescu Cello Competition in Bucharest and was appointed Meritorious Artist of the Musical Arts of the International Union of Musical Arts in Russia. Professor David Geringas teaches exclusively at the Blackmore International Music Academy in Berlin.
