# David Geringas

David Geringas (Lithuanian: Davidas Geringas; born 29 July 1946 in Vilnius) is a Lithuanian cellist and conductor who studied under Mstislav Rostropovich. In 1970 he won the gold medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition. He also plays the baryton, a rare instrument associated with music of Joseph Haydn.

## Biography

David Geringas has performed as a soloist with the greatest orchestras around the globe, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Czech Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia, NHK Symphony and Israel Philharmonic, under such esteemed conductors of our time as Gerd Albrecht, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Herbert Blomstedt, Andrey Boreyko, Myung-whun Chung, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Lawrence Foster, Valery Gergiev, Paavo Järvi, Kirill Kondrashin, Krzysztof Penderecki, Simon Rattle, Mstislav Rostropovich, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Horst Stein, Yuri Temirkanov, Klaus Tennstedt and Michael Tilson Thomas. He is a regular guest at several major chamber music festivals and has a vast repertoire, from baroque to contemporary music, much of which he has recorded, being awarded the Grand Prix du Disque of the Charles Cros Academy in 1989. He is a cello professor in Berlin.
Important contemporary composers such as Sofia Gubaidulina, Pēteris Vasks and Erkki-Sven Tüür have dedicated new compositions to Geringas. In July 2006, Anatolijus Senderovas' composition "David's Song for Cello and String Quartet" was premièred in Kronberg – a dedication to Geringas's 60th birthday.
David Geringas is one of the most versatile musicians of our time. The cellist and conductor has an unusually broad repertoire from the earliest baroque up to contemporary music. He was the first musician to play in the West works of the Russian and Lithuanian avant garde and many composers dedicated works to him. For his worldwide engagement with Lithuanian music and its composers he was awarded the highest distinctions in his country. In October 2006 the President of the Federal Republic of Germany Horst Köhler awarded the "Verdienstkreuz 1. Klasse des Verdienstordens der Bundesrepublik Deutschland" (Federal Cross of Merit) to David Geringas for his overall efforts as musician and German Cultural Ambassador to the world music scene.
Born in Vilnius, Lithuania, David Geringas studied at the Moscow Conservatory from 1963 until 1973 with Mstislav Rostropovich. In 1970 David Geringas won the First Prize and the gold medal at the Tchaikovsky competition. In 2000 he took over a professorship of cello at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" in Berlin. Moreover, he is honorary professor at the Moscow Conservatory. David Geringas also heads various master-classes all over the world for the up-and-coming musicians. His students are winners of prizes and awards of international competitions.
Renowned composers of contemporary music dedicated works to David Geringas, thus the Concerto in Do by Anatolijus Šenderovas, being played by David Geringas for the first time in 2002 and being awarded the European Composers Prize in Berlin, the Cello Concerto by Ned Rorem, world premiere 2003 in the US, the Cello Concertos by Vytautas Laurušas and by Vidmantas Bartulis, world premiere 2004 respective 2005 in Lithuania. A special event was the world premiere of Anatolijus Šenderovas' work "David's Song for Cello and String Quartet" in July 2006 in Kronberg which the composer had written on the occasion of David Geringas' 60th birthday.
He has been teaching at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena since 2005.
David Geringas' concerts with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow State Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Berner Symphonie-Orchester, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra as well as his first performance with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra at once being reinvited for 2007, belong among others to the highlights of the concert season 2005/2006. He was also guest at prestigious festivals in Germany, Great Britain and France this summer. In the season 2006/2007 David Geringas will give concerts among others with the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, the Nationaltheater-Orchester Mannheim and the Galicia Symphony Orchestra. On the occasion of D. Shostakovich's 100th Birthday David Geringas is invited by the Tonhalle Düsseldorf to arrange and to head a weekend of several performances dedicated to the composer.

## Discography

For about 50 CDs which David Geringas has up to now recorded he received a large number of distinctions, among them the Grand Prix du Disque for the recording of the 12 cello concerti by Luigi Boccherini. His extensive discography also includes many award-winning recordings such as the chamber music by Henri Dutilleux (Diapason d'Or) or the cello concertos by Hans Pfitzner (Jahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik).
* Eli Zion – from St. Petersburg to Jerusalem
    Musik der Neuen Jüdischen Schule für Cello und Klavier
    Works by:
    Joseph Achron, Ernst Bloch, Sinowi Feldman, Solomon Rosowsky, Lazare Saminsky, Joachim Stutschewsky, Leo Zeitlin
       with Jascha Nemtsov, piano
* Tschaikowsky-Variationen
    Tchaikovsky, Arensky
    David Geringas, conductor and cellist
    Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim
* J. S. Bach, 6 Suites for Cello (1995)
* Bach (1989)
    Suite No. 1
    Suite No. 2
    Suite No. 6
* Bach (1989)
    Suite No. 3
    Suite No. 4
    Suite No. 5
* Quasi Improvisata (2003)
    Anatolijus Senderovas - Songs of Sulamite
    Sofia Gubaidulina - In Croce
    Lepo Sumera - Quasi Improvisata
    Eduardas Balsys - Habanera
    Ástor Piazzolla - Tanti Anni Prima, Oblivion, Hommage à Liège
    with Geir Draugsvoll, bayan
* Mozartiana - Hommage à Mozart (1992)
    Mozart - Andantino for piano and cello, K.Anh. 46
    Beethoven - Seven variations in E-flat major for cello and piano
       "Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen" from Mozart's The Magic Flute
    Helene Liebmann - "Grande Sonate pour Pianoforte et Violincelle" in B-flat major, Op. 11
    Beethoven - Twelve variations in F major, Op. 66 for cello and piano
    "Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen" from Mozart's The Magic Flute
    Joseph Wölfl - "Grand Duo pour Piano et Violoncelle" in D minor, Op. 31
    Franz Xaver Mozart - From the Grand Sonata for piano and cello, Op. 19
    with Tatjana Schatz, piano
* Boccherini - 12 Concerti per il Violoncello (1988)
    Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major, G 474
    Concerto No. 2 in A major, G 475
    Concerto No. 3 in D major, G 476
    Concerto No. 4 in C major, G 477
    Concerto No. 5 in D major, G 478
    Concerto No. 6 in D major, G 479
    Concerto No. 7 in G major, G 480
    Concerto No. 8 in C major, G 481
    Concerto No. 9 in B-flat major, G 482
    Concerto No. 10 in D major, G 483
    Concerto No. 11 in C major, G 573
    Concerto No. 12 in E-flat, major
    Orchestra da Camera di Padova e del Veneto
    Conductor: Bruno Giuranna
* Brahms - Double Concerto for violin, cello and orchestra, in A minor, Op. 102 (1989)
    Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98
    Mark Kaplan, violin
    Sinfonieorchester des Südwestfunks Baden-Baden
    Conductor: Michael Gielen
* Solo for Tatjana (1997)
    György Ligeti - Sonata for cello solo
    Gerhard Schedl - from "Zwei Stücke aus der Schatz-Truhe"
    Viktor Suslin - Schatz-Island
    Krzysztof Meyer - Monolog
    Anatolijus Senderovas - Due Canti
    Pēteris Vasks - Gramata cellam
    Paul Hindemith - Sonata for cello solo, Op. 25, No. 3
    Pablo Casals - Cant dell Ocells
* Dvořák (2003)
    Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, B. 191
    Rondo in G minor, Op. 94, B. 181
    Silent Woods, B. 182
    Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi
* Ali Baba and the forty robbers (1997)
    Musical fairytale from the "Thousand and One Nights"
    Narrator: Manfred Steffen
    Music: Alexander Geringas
    Violin: Natalia Prishepenko
    Flute: Wolfgang Ritter
    Piano/song: Alexander Geringas
    Bass: Johannes Huth
    Drums: Martin Engelbach
* Gubaidulina (2000)
    "Und: Das Fest ist in vollem Gang"
    Badische Staatskapelle Karlsruhe
    Conductor: Kazushi Ono
* Haydn (1994)
    Cello Concerto in C major, Hob. VIIb-1
    Ceccl Concerto in D major, Hob. VIIb-2
    Andante from Symphony No. 13 for Cello and Orchestra
    Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra
* My recollections (2002)
    Vytautas Barkauskas - Suites de concert, Op. 98
    Bronius Kutavicius - Rhythmus-Arhythmus
    Anatolijus Senderovas - Due canti
    with Tatjana Schatz-Geringas, piano
    Osvaldas Balakauskas - Dal vento
    Mindaugas Urbaitis - Reminiscences
    with Petras Geniusas, piano
* Pfitzner (1993)
    Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 52
    Cello Concerto in G major in one movement, Op. 42
    Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. posth.
    Bamberg Symphony Orchestra
    Werner Andreas Albert
* David Geringas * Tatjana Schatz (1994)
    Dmitri Shostakovich - Sonata, Op. 40
    Prokofiev
       Sonata, Op. 119
       Adagio from Cinderella, Op. 97a
    Mstislav Rostropovich - Humoreske, Op. 5
    Tatjana Schatz, Piano
* Schnittke (1998–99)
    Epilogue from the ballet "Peer Gynt"
    Musica nostalgica
    Cello Sonata No. 1
    Tatjana Schatz, Piano
* Piano Trios
    Mieczyslaw Weinberg - Piano Trio, Op. 24
    Alexander Weprik - Drei Volkstänze, Op. 13b
    Dmitri Shostakovich - Piano Trio, Op. 67
    Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Violin
    Jasha Nemtsov, Piano
* David Geringas * Tatjana Schatz (1994)
    Schumann
       Adagio and Allegro, Op. 70
       Fantasiestücke, Op. 73
       Stücke im Volkston, Op. 102
    Schubert
       Arpeggione Sonata in A minor, D. 821
    Tatjana Schatz, piano
* David Geringas * Tatjana Schatz (1993)
    Richard Strauss
    Cello Sonata, Op. 6
    Romance in F Major
    Erwin Schulhoff - Cello Sonata, Op. 17
    Tatjana Schatz, piano
* Anatolijus Senderovas (2002)
    Concerto in Do
    Symphony Orchestra of the Lithuanian Academy of Music
    Robertas Servenikas, Conductor
* Lepo Sumera (2003)
    Cello Concerto
    Musica profana
    Symphony No. 6
    Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
    Paavo Järvi, Conductor
* Erkki-Sven Tüür
    Symphony No. 3
    Cello Concerto
    Lighthouse
    Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien
    Dennis Russell Davies, conductor
* Pēteris Vasks
    Cello Concerto
    String Symphony - Voices (Balsis)
    Riga Philharmonic Orchestra
    Jonas Dainius Aleksa, Conductor
* Schostakowitsch - Schulhoff
    Shostakovich - String Quartet No. 14
    with Gidon Kremer, Violin - Yuzuko Horigome, Violin - Kim Kashkashian, Viola
    Erwin Schulhoff - Sextet
    with Gidon Kremer, Violin - Philip Hirschhorn, Violin - Nobuko Imai, Viola - Kim Kashkashian, Viola - Julius Berger, cello
    Erwin Schulhoff - Duo for Violin and Cello
    with Philip Hirschhorn, Violin
* Krzysztof Meyer (2006)
    Canzona für Violoncello und Klavier
    with Tanja Schatz, Klavier

## Chamber music

David Geringas is also a welcome guest at international chamber music stages. So Tatjana Geringas and Ian Fountain belong to his closest partners on the piano. In the season 2004/2005 David Geringas gave together with Ian Fountain a concert series entitled "Beethoven plus…" at the Philharmonie Berlin. He also works closely together with the Artemis Quartett, the Vogler-Quartett and the Bläserquintett of the Staatskapelle Berlin.

## Conducting

To an ever-growing extent David Geringas has been engaged as conductor. Among others he conducted the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock, the Kammerphilharmonie of the MDR Leipzig, the Jenaer Philharmonie, the chamber orchestra of the Wiener Symphoniker (Concert-Verein), the Danish National Symphony Orchestra/DR, das Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the Kremerata Baltica as well as orchestras in Lithuania, Italy, the Netherlands, Mexico and Costa Rica. In February 2007 David Geringas will conduct for the first time the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, give his debut as conductor in China in the 2007/2008 season and will be guest again in Japan.
For his first CD recording as conductor he received the 'Choc de la Musique' of the music magazine Le Monde de la musique.
Since 2005 David Geringas has been Chief Guest Conductor of the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra.

## Cello

David Geringas plays a G. B. Guadagnini cello made in 1761.