Valery Gergiev

Valery Gergiev is very popular all over the world. This conductor is an outstanding representative of the St. Petersburg conducting school and was taught by the legendary conductor Ilya Musin. As early as when he was studying at the Leningrad Conservatory, Gergiev won the world's top Karajan Conducting Competition and the Moscow All-Soviet Conducting Competition, and was invited to join the Kirov (now Mariinsky) Theater as an assistant conductor. On January 12, 1978, he performed Prokofiev's opera "War and Peace" for the first time as a conductor. In 1988, he became the artistic director of the theater's opera company and has been the theater's president and artistic director since 1996.

After Gergiev took the helm, he began to organize major festivals dedicated to composers’ anniversaries, which gradually became a tradition. In 1989, he successfully held the 150th anniversary of Mussorgsky, the 150th anniversary of Tchaikovsky in 1990, the 100th anniversary of Prokofiev in 1991, and the 150th anniversary of Rimsky-Korsakov in 1994. These festivals not only played popular repertoires, but also brought some unknown masterpieces to the stage. In the 21st century, Gergiev continued the tradition of holding commemorative festivals. In 2006, the 100th anniversary of Shostakovich; in 2015, the 175th anniversary of Tchaikovsky was held, and in 2016, the third Prokofiev Memorial Festival was held, in 2019, the 175th anniversary of Rimsky-Korsakov, and in 2022, the 90th anniversary of Rodion Shchedrin’s birth was held.

Thanks to Gergiev's unremitting efforts, the Mariinsky Theatre has brought Richard Wagner's opera back to life. In 1997, the opera "Parsifal" returned to the stage after 80 years of silence, "Lohengrin" was re-staged in 1991, and the large-scale four-part opera "The Ring of the Nibelung" was staged in full in 2003. This is the first time in nearly a century that the four "Ring" operas have been performed in their entirety in Russia, and it is also the first Russian opera to be performed in the original German version. These four operas are not only widely acclaimed in Russia, but also have been a great success in the United States, South Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom, Spain and other places. In addition, the theatre's repertoire also includes Wagner's operas "Tristan and Isolde" and "The Flying Dutchman" (1998/2008) and "The Mastersingers of Nuremberg" (2023). In addition to the Bayreuth Festival, the Mariinsky Theatre is the only theatre that stages all of Wagner's mature operas every season.

The Mariinsky Orchestra has also reached unprecedented heights under the leadership of Gergiev. In addition to operas and ballets, the orchestra also performs extensively symphonic works by Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Sibelius, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Berlioz, Bruckner, Rimsky-Korsakov, Richard Strauss, Scriabin, Rachmaninov, Stravinsky, Messiaen, Dutilleux, Ustvolskaya, Shchedrin, Kancheli and many other great composers.

Under Gergiev's leadership, the Mariinsky Theatre has gradually become a major venue for performances and concerts. The Mariinsky Concert Hall opened in 2006, the New Mariinsky Theatre in 2013, and the Mariinsky Primorsky Branch in Vladivostok in January 2016. Under Gergiev's leadership, the theatre has also expanded into other areas, such as media and recording. The works of the Mariinsky Records label, founded in 2009, are recorded in the concert hall. To date, the Mariinsky Records label has released more than 30 albums, which have been highly praised by the media and the public.

In addition to his intensive international activities over the years, Gergiev has also focused on his work in Russia, especially at the Mariinsky Theatre. In 1991, Gergiev made his debut at the Bavarian State Opera with Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, in 1993 at the Theatre Royal Covent Garden, and in 1994 at the Metropolitan Opera with Placido Domingo in Verdi's Otello. In 1997, Gergiev began to lead the World Peace Orchestra after the death of its founder, Georg Solti. He has also worked closely with many prestigious orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Paris Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam. From 1995 to 2008, Gergiev served as chief conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and then as honorary conductor of the orchestra. From 2007 to 2015 he was chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. From 2015 to 2022 the maestro led the Munich Philharmonic and from 2018 to 2022 the Verbier Festival Orchestra.

Gergiev founded many internationally renowned art and music festivals, including the annual "Stars of the White Nights" Festival (1993), which was listed as one of the world's top ten music festivals in 2009; the Moscow Easter Festival (2002), the Mikkeli Festival in Finland, the Rotterdam Festival in the Netherlands, and the 360 ​​Festival in Munich. Since 2011, he has served as the chairman of the organizing committee of the Tchaikovsky International Music Competition. Gergiev attaches great importance to cooperation with young musicians. On the basis of the All-Russian Choral Association, Gergiev founded the Russian Children's Choir. After its debut at the New Mariinsky Theater, the choir performed at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and at the grand closing ceremony of the XXII Olympic Games in Sochi. From 2013 to 2022, he conducted the National Youth Orchestra of the United States and regularly cooperated with youth orchestras of major music festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in Germany, the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, and the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo. Since 2015, the Mariinsky Theatre has been hosting the “NEXT” festival, which focuses on children’s and youth ensembles.

Valery Gergiev's musical attainments and public influence have won him many awards and titles. He has won the Russian State Prize three times (1993, 1998, 2015); the title of People's Artist of the Russian Federation in 1996; the title of "Hero of Labor" of Russia in 2013; the Order of Merit for the Fatherland in 2003 and 2008. In 2016, he was awarded the Order of Alexander Nevsky; in 2017, he was awarded the Russian Ministry of Defense Culture and Art Award. In addition, he has won national awards in Armenia, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, France and Japan.

Mariinsky Orchestra

The Mariinsky Orchestra is one of the oldest musical ensembles in Russia. Its origins as a court church orchestra date back to the early 18th century. In the 19th century, under the baton of Eduard Nepravnik, it played a vital role for half a century. The Orchestra’s extraordinary excellence has been confirmed countless times by such great masters as Berlioz, Wagner, Hans von Bülow, Tchaikovsky, Mahler and Rachmaninov. The Orchestra’s splendid tradition has been carried forward by successive generations of Soviet conductors, including Vladimir Dranishnikov, Arich Pazovsky, Yevgeny Mravinsky, Konstantin Simeonov and Yuri Temirkanov.

The orchestra has had the privilege of premiering numerous operas and ballets by Tchaikovsky, Glinka, Rimsky-Korsakov, as well as ballets by Shostakovich, Khachaturian and Asafeev.

Since 1988, the orchestra has been led by the world's top conductor Valery Gergiev for thirty years. Under the leadership of Maestro Gergiev, the orchestra has ushered in a new era of rapid expansion of its repertoire. To date, its repertoire ranges from every symphony by Beethoven, Mahler, Prokofiev and Shostakovich to the Requiems of Mozart, Berlioz and Verdi; as well as works by modern composers of diverse styles such as Stravinsky, Gubaidulina, Kancheli and Karetnikov. The orchestra has left its footprints in many famous concert halls around the world.