Florian Donderer is first violin of Signum Quartet, one of the most adventurous and outstanding string quartets of today, as well as longstanding concertmaster of The Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen. He is a versatile musician, highly valued as chamber musician, soloist, concertmaster and conductor, collaborating with distinguished musicians such as Paavo Järvi, Steven Isserlis, Lars Vogt, Viktoria Mullova, Elisabeth Leonskaja and his wife and brother in law, Tanja and Christian Tetzlaff.

Florian Donderer is frequent guest at major festivals such as Bergen Festspielen, Beethovenfest Bonn, Festwochen Berlin, Schwetzinger Festspiele and is core member at ›Spannungen‹, one of Germany’s most prominent music festivals, founded by Pianist Lars Vogt. Concerts with Signum Quartet have taken him to international podia from Berlin‘s Boulez-Saal and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg to London’s Wigmore Hall and Concertgebouw Amsterdam.

Florian Donderer is especially renowned as an artistic leader, directing orchestras from the concertmaster’s desk. Top Chamber Orchestras such as Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Kammerorchester Basel, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and Camerata Bern, invite him as director and soloist. Last year‘s recording ›Haydn and Bach Cello Concertos‹ with Steven Isserlis, Florian Donderer and The Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen has received a Grammy Nomination. He made his debut as conductor with Ensemble Oriol and Christiane Oelze at Berlin Philharmonic Hall, followed by a CD recording with Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen and Tanja Tetzlaff. He has conducted among others the Kammerakademie Neuss, the Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim and Festival Strings Lucerne. This year Florian Donderer has taken on the position of artistic director of the chamber music festival of the city of Rottweil, one of Germany’s longest standing festivals. With his wife, Tanja Tetzlaff he is curating a chamber music series at Sendesaal Bremen.

He plays a violin built by German Violinmaker Peter Greiner in 2003 and bows by Nico Plog from Antwerp.

Estonian conductor and Grammy Award winner Paavo Järvi has been Artistic Director of the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen since 2004. One of the many highlights of this collaboration was the Beethoven cycle, acclaimed worldwide by audiences and critics alike, for which Järvi received numerous awards including the ›Echo Klassik Conductor of the Year‹ award and the prestigious annual ›German Record Critics‹’ award. Their Beethoven project was followed by an intensive exploration of the symphonic works of Schumann and Brahms; both cycles also received numerous awards. From autumn 2021, the focus was on Joseph Haydn’s twelve London symphonies, and since 2024, an intensive exploration of Franz Schubert’s symphonies.

Järvi has been Music Director of the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich since the start of the 2019/20 season. He is also the founder and Artistic Director of the Estonian Festival Orchestra and the Pärnu Music Festival. From the 2028/29 season, Järvi will take up the post of Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor to the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He also regularly appears as a guest conductor with leading orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

In 2015, he was named ›Artist of the Year‹ by both the British magazine Gramophone and the French magazine Diapason. This was followed in 2019 by the Opus Klassik award for ›Conductor of the Year‹. Other awards include a Grammy Award for his recording of Sibelius’ Cantatas with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and the title ›Commandeur de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres‹, awarded by the French Ministry of Culture. In 2015, Paavo Järvi also received the Sibelius Medal in recognition of his work in bringing this Finnish composer’s music to a wider audience, and in 2012 he received the Hindemith Prize for Art and Humanity. As a committed supporter of Estonian culture, Paavo Järvi was awarded the Order of the White Star by the President of Estonia in 2013.