Stockhammer studied Chinese and
Political Science before devoting himself to his musical studies, receiving degrees in
musical composition at the
University of California, Los Angeles and conducting at the
University of Southern California. He was a fellow at the Accademia Chigiana (1995/96) and at the Tanglewood Music Center (1999.) His mentors include Ian Krouse,
Peter Eötvös, Daniel Lewis, Robert Spano,
Jorma Panula,
Myung-Whun Chung and
Esa-Pekka Salonen. Upon the completion of his studies, Stockhammer moved to Germany and began collaborations with numerous radio orchestras such as the
Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, the
WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, the
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic, as well as the
Oslo Philharmonic,
Orchestre National de France., the
Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the
Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Essen Philharmonic, the
Czech Philharmonic, and the
Ensemble Resonanz. He has regularly led opera productions at the
Opéra National de Lyon. In 2013, Stockhammer conducted the
New York City Opera's production of Thomas Ades’ opera Powder Her Face, a collaboration with stage-director Jay Scheib. In the area of new music, Stockhammer has collaborated extensively with the
Ensemble Modern,
musikFabrik and as conductor in residence with the Collegium Novum Zürich (since 2013/14). Since moving to Germany in 1998, Stockhammer has led a large number of world premieres including works by
Wolfgang Rihm,
Pascal Dusapin, Hans Abrahamsen,
Heiner Goebbels,
Chaya Czernowin,
Philip Glass and
Brian Ferneyhough He has performed at new music festivals such as the
Donaueschingen Festival, the Ultraschall Berlin, as well as
Venice Biennale, the
Schwetzingen Festival and the
Salzburg Festival. A large part of Stockhammer's work is productions which defy classification such as his recordings and performances of
Frank Zappa’s music, his collaboration with the Jazz-Duo
Chick Corea and
Gary Burton, or with the percussionist
Peter Erskine, or the Swedish Saxophonist/Composer
Mats Gustafsson. == Discography ==