Bryce Dessner Named as Creative Chair of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich for 2023/24

A GRAMMY Award-winning composer, Dessner is also the guitarist of indie-rock band The National

The Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich recently announced that composer and guitarist Bryce Dessner will be its new Creative Chair for the 2023/24 season. As well as being a prominent composer, Dessner is also a guitarist in the indie-rock band The National.

As Creative Chair, Dessner will present a number of his works as part of the Tonhalle's season. These range from orchestral works such as Mari (to be conducted by Paavo Järvi) to chamber works such as Tenebre and Murder Ballades.

The orchestra will also perform Dessner's work St. Carolyn by the Sea, in which Dessner himself will appear as the guitarist. Two of his concerti also feature the violin concerto, with its dedicatee Pekka Kuusisto as soloist, and a brand-new piano concerto, to be played by Alice Sara Ott with conductor Kent Nagano.

Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, Bryce Dessner is a GRAMMY Award-winning composer whose works have been performed by ensembles such as San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and Orchestre de Paris, and by Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Semyon Bychkov, and Santtu-Matias Rouvali.

Also an arranger and orchestrator, Dessner has worked on a number of film scores, including The Revenant and Bardo.