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David Zinman is an American conductor and violinist.
After early violin studies at the Oberlin Conservatory, Zinman studied theory and composition at the University of Minnesota, earning his M.A. in 1963, and took up conducting at Tanglewood. He then worked in Maine with Pierre Monteux from 1958 to 1962, serving as his assistant from 1961 to 1964.
Zinman held the post of tweede dirigent of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra from 1965 to 1977. He was the principal conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra from 1979 to 1982.
In the USA, Zinman was music director of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra from 1974 to 1985. With the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, he was principal guest conductor for two years before becoming the orchestra's music director in 1985. During his Baltimore tenure, he began to implement ideas from the historically informed performance movement in his interpretations of the Beethoven symphonies. At the end of his tenure as music director in 1998 he was named the orchestra's conductor laureate, but in protest at what he saw as the Baltimore orchestra's overly conservative programming in the years since his departure he gave up that title in 2001. In 1998, Zinman was the Music Director of the Ojai Music Festival alongside pianist Mitsuko Uchida. In 1998, he was appointed music director of the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he founded and directed its American Academy of Conducting until suddenly resigning in April 2010.
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