Conductor
Worked with Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra as the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor in 1981-1985.
Was born in Moscow to Ossetian parents. He spent his youth in the Caucasus. At the Leningrad conservatory he studied conducting with Ilya Musin. Still a student, he won the All-Union Conductors’ Competition Prize in Moscow. At the age of 23, he was the winner of the prestigious Herbert von Karajan Conductors’ Competition in Berlin. The following year, he became the assistant conductor to Yuri Temirkanov at the Kirov Opera where, in 1978, he made his debut with War and Peace, followed by productions of Mazepa, Prince Igor, Lohengrin, etc. Parallel to his work at St.Petersburg Opera Theatre he was the Chief Conductor of the Armenian State Philharmonic Orchestra from 1981 to 1985. In 1988, he was appointed principal conductor and artistic director of St.Petersburg Opera Theatre. In 1996, he was appointed as general director of the same theatre. In 1989, Valery Gergiev had his first international success at the Schleswig-Holstein-Musikfestival in Germany. Valery Gergiev was able to lead the Mariinsky Theater to the level of the world best opera houses. Since 1989, Gergiev becomes guest conductor at the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and four years later, he took the charge of a principal conductor. Since 1997, he also works as a guest conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Valery Gergiev is constantly performing at very different countries of the world with the most outstanding orchestras, participates at the most prestigious international festivals; he makes recordings with world famous record studios. He is a laureate of most prestigious awards and prizes.
For the years of his cooperation with Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra he brought a new, higher level to the performances of the orchestra giving a huge significance to Aram Khachaturian and Armenian composers of post-khachaturian era. Gergiev participated at the opening ceremony of the concert hall named after Beethoven in Dilijan, Tikhon Khrennikov performed his Piano Concerto with APO.
