Valery Gergiev

Born in Moscow, Valery Gergiev initially studied conducting under Ilya Musin at the Leningrad Conservatory. While still a student, he won the Herbert-von- Karajan conducting competition in Berlin. In 1978, aged 24, Valery Gergiev became assistant conductor of Yuri Temirkanov at the Mariinsky Opera, where he made his debut conducting Sergei Prokofiev’s adaptation of Tolstoy’s War and Peace. More than two decades ago, he assumed his current position as director of the legendary Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, which has since become a cornerstone of operatic culture in Russia.

Valery Gergiev’s close cooperation with the Munich Philharmonic began in the 2011/12 season. Since then, he has performed all symphonies by Dmitri Shostakovich and a cycle of works by Igor Stravinsky with both the Philharmonic and the Mariinsky Orchestra. Since the 2015/16 season, Valery Gergiev is chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic. As “Maestro der Stadt” (The City’s Maestro) he reaches out to Munich concert audiences with subscription concerts and performances for young people, public final rehearsals, an open-air concert series on Odeonsplatz, and the MPHIL 360°-festival, while reaching an international audience with regular live streams and television broadcasts from the Philharmonie im Gasteig.

In September 2016, the first CD recordings under the orchestra’s own label MPHIL and which document the conductor’s work with the Munich Philharmonic were released. Further recordings focussing on Anton Bruckner’s symphonies, are in preparation. Travels with Valery Gergiev have taken the Munich Philharmonic to numerous European cities as well as Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan.

As of July 2019