Born in 1965 in Duisburg, Germany, Frank Peter Zimmermann started playing the violin when he was 5 years old, giving his first concert with orchestra at the age of 10.

Since finishing his studies with Valery Gradov, Saschko Gawriloff and Herman Krebbers in 1983, Frank Peter Zimmermann has been performing with all major orchestras in the world, collaborating on these occasions with the world's most renowned conductors. His engagements, both with orchestra and in recital, take him to all major concert venues and international music festivals in Europe, the United States, Japan, South America and Australia.

Highlights during the 2005/06 and 2006/07 seasons include(d) engagements with a.o. the New York Philharmonic Orchestra / Ludovic Morlot, the Cleveland Orchestra / Franz Welser-Möst, the Boston Symphony Orchestra / Christoph von Dohnanyi, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Simon Rattle (at a.o. the festivals of Salzburg, Edinburgh and the London BBC Proms), the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra / Esa-Pekka Salonen, the London Symphony Orchestra / Bernard Haitink and Daniel Harding (a.o. on a Far East tour), the Philharmonia Orchestra / Christoph von Dohnanyi, the Staatskapelle Dresden / Jukka-Pekka Saraste, the Orchestre de Paris / Christoph Eschenbach and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra / Mariss Jansons (at the Lucerne Festival).
In March 2007 Frank Peter Zimmermann and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Martyn Brabbins will give the world première of a violin concerto by Brett Dean. Previously, in 2003, he gave the world première of the violin concerto ‘en sourdine’ by Matthias Pintscher with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Peter Eötvös.

Apart from his many engagements with orchestra, Frank Peter Zimmermann gives numerous recitals worldwide. His interpretations of the classical, romantic and 20th Century repertoire are received with great critical acclaim from press and public alike. Since 1998 his regular partner is Italian pianist Enrico Pace. Other regular chamber music partners are Heinrich Schiff and Christian Zacharias.

Frank Peter Zimmermann was awarded the ‘Premio del Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Siena 1990’. In April 1994 he received the important Rheinischer Kulturpreis 1994 and in October 2002 the Musikpreis of the city of Duisburg.

For EMI Classics Frank Peter Zimmermann has recorded virtually all major concerto repertoire from Bach to Weill, as well as many works from the recital repertoire. On Teldec Classics he can be heard in the violin concerto of Ligeti with the ASKO Ensemble and Reinbert de Leeuw.
Sony Classical released his recordings of the Tchaikovsky violin concerto with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and Manfred Honeck, the Bruch violin concerto no. 1 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Paavo Berglund and - most recently - of the Busoni violin concerto with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI and John Storgards coupled with the Busoni violin sonata no. 2 with pianist Enrico Pace.
Many of the above recordings have received prestigious awards and prizes worldwide.

Frank Peter Zimmermann plays a Stradivarius from 1711, which once belonged to Fritz Kreisler, and which is kindly sponsored by the WestLB AG.