2 July 2016

Live performance of Max Richter's Memoryhouse with the Orchestre national d'Île-de-France in the new Philharmonie de Paris. More info HERE

June 2016

A 7 performance tour with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Holst's The Planets with a special Royal Albert Hall performance of Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra with special films from NASA. It's a concert, Jim, but not as we know it!

14 May 2016

A spectacular concert of the scores of film composer John Williams alongside the greatest songs and themes from the films of James Bond with the Shanghai Philharmonic in the city's Botanical Gardens.  

11 April 2016

Recording the latest film score from Max Richter at London's Air Studios

14 Feb 2016

Great Film music for Valentine's Day with the Ulster Orchestra. 

2 Dec 2015

A benefit concert with Rebecca Ferguson, Collabro and the London Philharmonic Orchestra for the Prince's Trust sponsored by Huawei

28 Nov 2015

Classic Quadrophenia will be broadcast across the USA during December 2015 on PBS.

24 Nov 2015

Debut with Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus for 2001:A Space Odyssey Live in Tokyo at Bunkamura Orchard Hall

August 28 2015

The grand finale to David Byrne's Meltdown Festival, Jerry Goldsmith's great score for Planet of the Apes played by the BBC Concert Orchestra live to film at the Royal Festival Hall. More info here. 

16 Nov 2015

Recording Max Richter's new film score for Luke Scott's film Morgan. 

11-31 Oct 2015

The European performance Classic Quadrophenia gets underway with with Alfie Boe and the Boruslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra  in Vienna (31 Oct) 

10 July 2015

Another exciting debut with the Shanghai Symphony in music of Ligeti and Strauss accompanying  "2001 - A Space Odyssey".

5 July 2015

The World Premiere of a new orchestral version of ‘Quadrophenia’. Debut recording released by Deutsche Grammophon and concert  at the Royal Albert Hall on 5 July with Pete Townshend, Alfie Boe, Royal Philharmonic. Watch HERE

28 June 2015

A return performance with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the great film music of John Williams at the Royal & Derngate, Northampton. Tickets HERE.  

8 May 2015

Debut with the Gulbenkian orchestra in the special film and music project 2001: Live. This features the 96 strong orchestra with chorus in music by Richard Strauss, Johann Strauss II and Gyorgy Ligeti accompanying the masterpiece by Stanley Kubrick: 2001 - A Space Odyssey. 

14 April 2015

RTE Concert Orchestra Music from the 1930s

Weill - Seven Deadly Sins (with Storm Large)

Rodgers - Slaughter on Tenth Avenue

Copland - Four Dance Episodes from "Rodeo"Review HERE

31 Dec 2014

The fifth consecutive New Year's Eve concert with the magnificent Manchester Camerata this year featuring the legendary Maria Friedman and Damian Humbley in a classic concert of the best of Broadway. 

25 Nov 2014

Sold out concert at Reading's Hexagon Theatre conducting the RPO in a programme of the film music of John Williams.

10 October 2014

Return to the Royal Albert Hall for a reprise of the sold out John Williams 80th birthday tribute concert. 

October 2014

Conducting the debut recording for Deutsche Grammophon of the new orchestral version of Pete Townshend's Quadrophenia with Alfie Boe, tenor. 

2014

Conducting at Air Studios, London a new film score by Max Richter for the film Testament of Youth based on the memoirs of British feminist, pacifist and writer, Vera Brittain recalling her experiences of World War One. 

2014

Back again at Air Studios, London for a day of recording the music of James Horner for a new Chinese language feature Wolf Totem filmed in Mongolia by French director Jean Jacques Annaud. 

6 July 2014

Conducting the UK tour of music by Ben Folds with Ben as soloist in his own piano concerto along with the Northern Sinfonia (4 concerts) and the Heritage Orchestra for the London Barbican concert. 

2014

Conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Abbey Road's Studio 2 for Jonny Greenwood's new score for Paul Thomas Anderson's new fiim, based on the Thomas Pynchon novel Inherent Vice starring Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Josh Brolin and Joanna Newsome. 

2014!

Ringing in the New Year with the Manchester Camerata and  Hannah Waddingham and Graham Bickley, Ziegler conducts a show that features  Gershwin, Cole Porter  through contemporary Sunset Boulevard and Les Miserables. All this and champagne, too. 

2013

RZ is Editorial Consultant for Dorling Kindersley's Music  - the definitive visual history. A groundbreaking publication, Music is the only book on the market to visually chart and timeline the entire history of music from a global perspective.

2013

Ziegler conducts the final programme in the BBC's Sound of Cinema series in scores chosen by presenters across six BBC radio networks. The "winner"was chosen by listeners and comes from a concert of  Bombay, Django Unchained  through Mary Poppins and Star Wars.  

2013

Ziegler presents an edition of Saturday Classics for BBC Radio 3 called: "Conducting for Hollywood" with music from Korngold, Rozsa, Herrmann, Howard Shore, Jonny Greenwood  showing the versatility and imagination of the creators of the great film scores.

2013

One of the main events of the BBC's Century of Cinema, Ziegler makes his debut with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in a programme of outstanding film scores of the 20th Century. More Here

2013

Ziegler conducts the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra with Bryn Terfel, John Owen Jones and Maria Friedman in a programme of the great Musicals. 

Grand finale to our CBSO tour on their home turf at Symphony Hall, Birmingham with Jeremy Irons. A class act to bring down the curtain. 

Manchester Back Stage with David Arnold, Paddy Considine, Leisure Society, Mark Kermode and me after a epic night. 

Onstage at the Barbican, London with Simon Mayo and Jason Isaacs flanked by Mark Kermode and RZ with the wonderful CBSO for the 2nd of our Film Music Live Tour. 

Backstage at the first concert with CBSO in Cheltenham 3 July 2013 with Jim Broadbent and Mark Kermode. Check out Mark's blog from Cheltenham HERE.

2013

Ziegler tours in July 2013 with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and presenter Mark Kermode throughout the UK. Social media fallout HERE

Records the Mark Isham's award winning score for "42" - the story of American baseball legend Jackie Robinson. Behind the scenes YouTube clip HERE. 

2013

Recorded John Debney's score for the bio pic JOBS starring Ashton Kutcher at Angel Studios in London. Behind the scenes video HERE

2012

Conducts John Williams' 80th birthday celebrations with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall. 

See the video here. 

2012

Increasingly in demand as conductor for original film score soundtracks, Ziegler works with Howard Shore, John Debney, Mark Isham, Rachel Portman and others in London. 

2011

Conducts the RTE Concert Orchestra in premiere of the Credo by Kjartan Sveinsson (Sigur Ros), Steve Reich's Eight Lines, and Popcorn Superhet Receiver by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood.

2011

In his debut with the BBC Philharmonic Ziegler conducts the first simultaneous broadcast of BBC Radios Five Live and Radio 2 with an added digital television broadcast for the Kermode/Mayo Film programme. 

2011

Conducts the world premiere of Stewart Copeland's The Tell Tale Heart at the Linbury Studio, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Watch it on YouTube:

See review

2010

The premiere of "Hollywood to Bollywood" at a sold out St. Luke's Church -  a concert conceived by Robert and tabla virtuoso/producer Kuljit Bhamra that merges the Indian and European classical traditions with the glamour of Hollywood and Bollywood film music. 

2010

Robert continues his series for BBC Radio 4 with a programme on Ken Russell's films -  Ken Russell's Lollipops.It includes interviews with Pete Townshend, Twiggy and Roger Daltrey.

2010

Robert conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in two concerts - Dvorak Symphony no. 8 and the Beethoven Violin Concerto with Chloe Hanslip. Also a gala at the Royal Albert Hall - David Arnold's Concert for Care which features film composers from the US and UK. 

2009

Writes and records Tarantino's Jukebox with Heavy Entertainment Productions - one of a series of radio features for BBC Radio 4 looking at the way great film directors use music. Tarantino's Jukebox wins the Gold Award for Music features at the New York Radio Awards. 

 Returns to BBC 4 as Music Director for special television broadcast with Annie Lennox

2009

Tours Ireland with Ute Lemper to perform Weill's Seven Deadly Sins along with Ziegler's original orchestral arrangements of Weill, Brel, Piazzolla with Ulster Orchestra and RTE Concert Orchestra.

2008

Music Director for the special BBC4 Television broadcast with composer and song writer Randy Newman. Released as DVD and CD on Nonesuch. 

2007

Conducts Johnny Greenwood's score for Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood. 
Robert Ziegler on imdb.com

2006

Collaborates with Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead on a new piece for the BBC Concert Orchestra "Popcorn Superhet Receiver". Heard by director Paul Thomas Anderson, this becomes the score for the film There Will Be Blood

Arranges and conducts special BBC Radio 2 concert broadcast featuring Lionel Richie. 

2004

Conducts and arranges the ground-breaking Flashmob: The Opera for BBC 3 Television which mounts a  live performance with cast, chorus and  orchestra in London's Paddington Railway Station. Broadcast live to over 100,000 viewers it wins the Montreaux Rose d'Or and the British RTS awards. 

2004

Conducts and arranges for many popular programmes with the BBC Scottish Symphony Proms in the Park with guest artists including Nicola Benedetti, Evelyn Glennie and Jonathan Lemalu. 

2002

Tour of Stewart Copeland's orchestral music drawn from his film scores, Orchestralli, plays to sold out houses throughout Italy and the UK. Watch an excerpt HERE:

2000

Debuts with New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in a programme of Korngold Violin Concerto, Varese Ameriques and Copland Billy the Kid

'Arms and the Cow, with Robert Ziegler coaxing much froth and vim from the BBC Concert Orchestra.' Daily Telegraph 

"Packed to the rafters -Ute Lemper's late-night cabaret concert with the Matrix Ensemble and Robert Ziegler. A divinely decadent-looking audience yelled its head off.' The Guardian 

2000

To celebrate Kurt Weill's centenary, he conducts the World Premiere of Der Kuhhandel (Arms and the Cow) at the Barbican Centre in London. Later the same evening, leads his own Matrix Ensemble in a sold out concert with Ute Lemper. 

Ziegler commissions a new score for Hitchcock's silent thriller The Lodger by the Divine Comedy's Joby Talbot.  

'The wryly atmospheric music blazed in the hands of the Matrix Ensemble conducted by Robert Ziegler. Hitchcock, a connoisseur of sound, would have relished it.’  The Observer

1999

Ziegler arranges the Paul Robeson Songbook for orchestra with Willard White. 'Ziegler's arrangements, which nodded towards big band and Broadway, were full of fascinating variety.' (The Times)

‘This is a fascinating collection and an important one... These songs must be hellishly difficult to translate, both in the literal sense, and in terms of modern performers recapturing their idiom..... Painstaking efforts have been made to re-orchestrate them authentically... the results are vividly evocative.' (Gramophone)

Ziegler's arrangements of songs by Spoliansky, Rudolf Nelson and Friedrich Hollander are hailed as '...imaginative and resourceful....an absolute delight... Quite simply, it’s a stunning disc...(Classic CD)

1996

Ziegler's research into the cabaret songs of the Weimar Republic produces a hit CD for Decca's Entartete Musik series with German chanteuse Ute Lemper.  

Conducts first major contemporary film score: Pat Doyle's score for Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility, starring Emma Thompson.  Many more will follow.  

1995

Ziegler's survey of music by Wilhelm Grosz, including the four cabaret songs Bankel und Balladen is recorded for Decca. '... performed with sizzling, raucous eloquence under Robert Ziegler.' Financial Times

‘There is always a Prom that demands to be seen as well as heard.  This year it is the Matrix Ensemble’s debut Prom on Wednesday. ...Under the baton of LA emigré Robert Ziegler, this ensemble has earned a reputation of brilliantly coherant programming.'  The Observer

1993

Debut at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, in a programme of German music influenced by black music: Weill’s Cry, the Beloved Country (from Lost in the Stars); Mahagonny Songspiel; Zimmermann’s trumpet concerto with Håkan Hardenberger, soloist;  and Wilhelm Grosz’ Afrika Songs.

1993

A second collaboration between the BFI, BBC and Matrix Ensemble is premiered at the Auditorium du Louvre, Paris: Jonathan Lloyd's new score for Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail. 

‘one of the indispensable discs of the year.’ Classic CD, July 1991

1991

CD DEBUT - From the Salon of the Princesse du Polignac - ASV:

‘The performances deserve the greatest praise ... first class.  A fine recording ... outstanding.’ Gramophone, July 1991

1990

Commissions new score for EA Dupont's 1929 silent film Moulin Rouge from jazz composer Mike Westbrook in collaboration with the British Film Institute. The film stars Olga Chekhova.

1990

Returns for a third time to the Almeida Festival, this time with three short theatrical works by Kurt Weill: Marie Galante, War Play (from Johnny Johnson) and Cry, the Beloved Country (from Lost in the Stars). The programme is filmed by BBC TV.  

1989

Debuts with BBC Scottish Symphony, Scottish Chamber Orchestra on tour and BBC Concert Orchestra. 

1989

Films Stravinsky's L'histoire du Soldat and Satie's Genevieve de Brabant for Channel Four with the Little Angel Marionette Theatre.

1988

 Returns to the Almeida Festival for a retrospective of music by German serialist composer Stefan Wolpe.  

1987

Founds the Matrix Ensemble to explore new and neglected repertoire and collaborate with other disciplines.  The group makes its debut at the Almeida Festival and later performs music by Brecht's collaborator Hanns Eisler, including the UK premiere of The Decision (Die Massnahme). 

1987

Prizewinner in the Grzegorz Fitelberg International Conducting Competition. Conducts extensively in Poland and Germany.

1982-5

Studies conducting in Siena at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana with Franco Ferrara and Carlo Maria Giulini. Conducts BBC Symphony Orchestra in new music and rare repertoire for Radio 3. 

Engagements follow with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Guest engagements in the 1980s take Robert throughout Europe and back to America.

1981

Robert moves to the UK and is engaged to conduct American contemporary music by BBC Radio 3.

Conducts first operas in Los Angeles: La Boheme, Don Pasquale, Tosca, La Traviata, Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, Carmen, Don Giovanni and Le Nozze di Figaro.  Studies the Bach Cantatas with Helmuth Rilling, and makes debut at the legendary contemporary music series Monday Evening Concerts in a programme of Dallapicolla, Grisey and Stravinsky.

1970s

At 17 he begins composition and piano studies with Artur Schnabel's pupil John Ringgold and later with Polish virtuoso Jakob Gimpel.  At 20 he begins studying conducting with former Klemperer colleague Fritz Zweig.  Works as an assistant at the Monday Evening Concerts where he will later conduct. 

1960s

Begins studying the piano as a 5 year old and later guitar at 10. Continues studies throughout his teens also playing in bands around Los Angeles.

1950s

Born at the end of the baby boom in Los Angeles, California to businessman Herbert Ziegler, and former American Ballet Theatre principal ballerina and MGM dancer Miriam Golden Ziegler. He's the youngest of three children.