Valentin Uryupin is an exceptional musician in two respects: before he celebrated success on the conductor’s podium, he won more than 20 international competitions as a clarinetist and performed worldwide. In view of his numerous conducting engagements – both in operatic and symphonic fields – his performances as a soloist are increasingly rare. However, Valentin Uryupin can occasionally be seen in play-conduct concerts in both roles, as conductor and clarinetist.
A highlight of the current season is his invitation to return to the Frankfurt Opera. There he conducts a new production of Tchaikovsky’s opera The Enchantress, after enjoying great success there last season with Oedipus Rex and Jolanthe. Debuts also take him to the Phion – Orkest van Gelderland &Overijssel, with whom he tours, to the Theater Darmstadt, where he conducts an orchestral programme, and to the Royal Symphony Orchestra of Seville. In addition, he is again working with the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, and with the Deutsche Radio PhilharmonieSaarbrücken Kaiserslautern, with whom he is continuing work on a complete recording of Alfred Schnittke’s violin works with Friedemann Eichhorn and Vadim Gluzman.
Other guest conducting engagements have included the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic, Tapiola Sinfonietta, SWR Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra della Toscana, Orchestra Filarmonica del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, MAV Symphony Orchestra Budapest, and PhilharmonieZuidnederland. As an opera conductor, he has led highly acclaimed productions at the Stuttgart State Opera (Die Liebe zurdreiOrangen) and at the Bregenz Festival (Eugene Onegin, 2019 and Siberia, 2022). He has also been a guest at the TirolerFestspieleErl on several occasions.
In autumn 2021 Valentin Uryupin became chief conductor and artistic director of the Novaya Opera in Moscow. There he presented two major productions with Korngold’s Die tote Stadt and Massenet’s Cendrillon before resigning his post at the house. As artistic director of the Rostov Symphony Orchestra from 2015 to 2021, Valentin Uryupin developed the orchestra into one of Russia’s most renowned ensembles. In addition to its own concert series at the Moscow Philharmonic (Tchaikovsky Concert Hall), the orchestra travelled to guest performances under his direction, including at the Brucknerhaus Linz. In Russia, Valentin Uryupin has also made regular guest appearances with major orchestras, including the State Academic Symphony Orchestra “Evgeny Svetlanov”, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Russian National Youth Symphony Orchestra, which he last conducted at the Lucerne Festival in 2021. For several years he worked closely with the MusicAeterna Orchestra at the Perm Opera.
The winner of the 8th International Conductors’ Competition Sir Georg Solti (2017) completed both of his studies – clarinet and conducting – at the Moscow State Conservatory. His teachers include Gennady Roshdestvensky and the clarinetist Evgeny Petrov; he also assisted Valery Gergiev and Vladimir Jurowski.
