Valery Gergiev

Conductor Valery Gergiev was born in Moscow on May 2, 1953, and spent his youth in Vladikavkaz in the Caucasus. He began playing the piano as a child, initially attending the local music school – now called the Valery Gergiev Music Academy – and was fortunate enough to be talented enough to be admitted into the USSR's talent development system. He began his training in Ordzhonikidze as a pianist, soon switched to orchestral conducting, and went to the Conservatory in Leningrad to study with Ilya Musin. In 1975, he won the Soviet Republics' conducting competition, which allowed him to participate in the Karajan Competition in Berlin the following year, which he also successfully completed. From then on, his artistic career progressed rapidly. At 24, Gergiev was appointed assistant conductor to Yuri Temirkanov at the Kirov Opera in 1977, where he made his stage debut in 1978 with Prokofiev's "War and Peace." His next step was to lead the Armenian State Orchestra from 1981 to 1985. In 1988, Gergiev was appointed chief conductor and artistic director of his former workplace, the Kirov Opera, located in the heart of St. Petersburg. In the same year, he conducted the London Symphony Orchestra for the first time in London. With the thaw of perestroika, it became easier for Gergiev to make a name for himself beyond the borders of the crumbling Soviet empire. He achieved his first international success in 1989 with his acclaimed appearance at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. In the same year, he was appointed principal guest conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, becoming its chief conductor in 1995. In 1991, he was seen for the first time in Western Europe with an opera, "Boris Godunov" at the Bavarian State Opera. Shortly thereafter, he conducted an opera for the first time in the USA, the familiar "War and Peace" in San Francisco. In 1992, Leningrad regained its old name St. Petersburg, and in the course of these re-historicizations, the Kirov Opera was also renamed the Mariinsky Theatre. Gergiev remained extraordinarily active during these years and tried to uphold the flag of culture in St. Petersburg despite crumbling facades everywhere. In 1992, he founded the St. Petersburg "White Nights" festival. From then on, he served as general director of the Mariinsky Theatre and actually managed to build up the ensemble, which had been eroding in the interim, into a world-renowned brand. However, Gergiev was not only active in Russia. In 1993, he presented himself for the first time at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London with "Eugene Onegin." In the same year, he made his debut at the Met with "Boris Godunov." In 1994, he founded a classical festival in Finland, and from autumn 1996, he also appeared as director of the Rotterdam Festival. In the same year, he was involved in the festivals he initiated, "Peace for the Caucasus" and the "Red Sea Festival" in Eilat. In 1997, he became the first guest conductor of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In 1998, he launched the Alberto Vilar-sponsored Mariinsky Academy for Young Singers. He regularly cooperated with international opera houses. Among the spectacular conducting engagements in this context was his version of Wagner's "Ring des Nibelungen," with which he guested at the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden in the winter season 2003/4. Valery Gergiev will become the new chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra in January 2007. In addition to his numerous duties as director of the Mariinsky Theatre, house conductor of the Metropolitan Opera, chief conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and festival founder, he has made numerous recordings for the Philips label since 1989. During the first decade alone, over 40 CDs were produced with a very comprehensive, but also distinctly Russian repertoire. Among the great discoveries that emerged from the Mariinsky ensemble he led is the singer Anna Netrebko, whom Gergiev first gave a chance in 1994 to prove herself as Susanna in "Le Nozze di Figaro" and who has since steadily climbed the ladder of popularity. 6/2005