Thomas Fritzsch | |
|---|---|
 Fritzsch in 2021 | |
| Born | 1961 (age 63–64) |
| Education | Musikhochschule Leipzig |
| Occupations |
|
| Awards | Echo Klassik |
Thomas Fritzsch (born 1961) is a Germanviol player andmusicologist who has appeared internationally. He has been instrumental in reviving rediscovered music, such as Telemann's12 Fantasias for Viola da Gamba and works byCarl Friedrich Abel, playing them in concerts and first recordings, and publishing them byEdition Güntersberg. He initiated a music festival inKöthen, Abel's hometown, on the occasion of the composer's tercentenary in 2023.
Fritzsch was born and raised inZwickau. He received his first cello lessons at theRobert Schumann Conservatory [de] there and then studied cello and viol at theMusikhochschule Leipzig. After posts as cellist in several orchestras he decided to focus on music from the 17th and 18th centuries, in researching as well as playing.[1] He explored and played historic cellos, such asBaroque cello,violoncello piccolo andbasse de violon. He also searched for lost music, and played chamber music from the earlyRomantic period on historic instruments.[1]
Fritzsch played as a soloist withRiccardo Chailly, theGewandhausorchester and theThomanerchor.[1] He toured in Europe, and beyond to New York City,Boston, Tokyo, Seoul, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Havanna, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Jerusalem. He has taught at universities in Germany and abroad, and published musicological works.[1]
He opened theTelemann-Museum in Hamburg with a concert on 7 May 2011.[2] The city ofKöthen named him a cultural ambassador in 2014 for his international engagement for the music ofJohann Sebastian Bach who had worked in the town, and ofCarl Friedrich Abel who was born there.[3][4]
Fritzsch was instrumental in the rediscovery of lost compositions, such as Abel's2nd Pembroke Collection, his Viol Concerto in A major andLedenburg-Sonaten, sonatas byJohann Christian Bach,[3] and Telemann's12 Fantasias for Viola da Gamba.[3][5] He played the works in concerts and first recordings.[3][6] The recording of Telemann's Fantasias earned him anEcho Klassik award in 2017.[1] In 2019 he rediscovered Abel's Six Trios, Opus 3, for two violins, harpsichord and cello.[3] The works were published byEdition Güntersberg in Heidelberg.[1]
In 2023, Fritzsch initiated and directed an international festival around Abel's music in the composer's home town Köthen, in memory of the tercentenary of his birth.[7]
Fritzsch and his family live inFreyburg (Unstrut).[3]
Fritzsch made many first recordings,[3] and a reviewer credited him with "technical brilliance" and "engaging interpretation" in "gestural, sometimes playful, sometimes theatrical performances".[5]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
