Valery Gergiev

Valery Gergiev (on the left) with then President of Russia Vladimir Putin on 11 January 2001.

Valery Abisalovich Gergiev (Ossetic: Гергиты Абисалы фырт Валери; Russian: Вале́рий Абиса́лович Ге́ргиев) (born 2 May 1953) is a Russian conductor and opera company director. He is general director and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, and principal guest conductor of the Metropolitan Opera. Valery Gergiev is the artistic director of the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg.

Biography

Gergiev, born in Moscow, is the son of Tamara Tatarkanovna and Abisal Zaurbekovich.^[1] He and his siblings were raised in Vladikavkaz in their native North Ossetia in the Caucasus. While not a child prodigy, he began piano at secondary school, before going on to study at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in Leningrad from 1972 to 1977. His principal conducting teacher was Prof. Ilya Musin (Илья Мусин), one of the greatest conductor-makers in Russian musical history. His sister, Larissa Gergieva, is the director of the Mariinsky's singers' academy.^[2]

Career

In 1978, he became assistant conductor at the Kirov Opera, now the Mariinsky Opera, under Yuri Temirkanov, where he made his debut conducting Sergei Prokofiev's War and Peace. He was chief conductor of the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra from 1981 until 1985 - the year he made his debut in the United Kingdom, along with pianist Evgeny Kissin, and violinists Maxim Vengerov and Vadim Repin, at The Lichfield Festival.

In 1991, for the first time, Gergiev conducted a western European opera company with the Bavarian State Opera in a performance of Modest Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov in Munich. In the same year he made his American début, performing War and Peace with the San Francisco Opera. Since then he has conducted both operatic and orchestral repertoire across the world. Gergiev is also associated with numerous music festivals, including the White Nights festival in Saint Petersburg.

He became the chief conductor and artistic director of the Mariinsky in 1988, and overall director of the company, appointed by the Russian government, in 1996. In addition to his artistic work with the Mariinsky, Gergiev has worked in fund-raising for such projects as the recently built 1100-seat Mariinsky Hall, and intends to achieve complete renovations of the Mariinsky Theatre by 2010.^[3]

From 1995 to 2008, Gergiev was principal conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1997, Gergiev became principal guest conductor of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. His current contract there runs through the 2007-2008 season.

In 2002, Gergiev was featured in one scene in the film Russian Ark, directed by Alexander Sokurov and filmed at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

In 2003, he initiated and conducted at the Mariinsky Theatre the first complete cycle of Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung to be performed in Russia for over 90 years. The production's design and concept reflects many aspects of Ossetian culture. Gergiev conducted this production in Cardiff in 2006 at the Wales Millennium Centre, and in Costa Mesa, California in October 2006 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. This production was presented at the Lincoln Center in New York City in July 2007 to a great acclaim, and the run was completely sold out.

In 1988, Gergiev made his first guest conducting appearance with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO). In his next appearance with the LSO in 2004, he conducted the symphonies of Sergei Prokofiev.^[4] This engagement led to his appointment in 2005 as the Orchestra's fifteenth principal conductor, succeeding Sir Colin Davis effective January 1, 2007.^[5] Gergiev's initial contract with the LSO was for 3 years.^[6] His first official concert as the LSO Principal Conductor was on 23 January 2007, as he was supposed to have conducted his first concert as LSO Principal Conductor on 13 January, but had to withdraw because of illness.^[7]

In October 2007 Gergiev took part in a unique holiday project featured in the 100th anniversary issue of the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book. A concert by Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra featuring piano virtuoso Lola Astanova became a part of a $1.59 million fantasy gift. The super concert is said to be hosted by the Emmy-winning American television personality Regis Philbin.^[8]

Gergiev has a reputation for a passionate, apparently abrasive, conducting style, and a tendency to grunt at the podium.^[9] He is a driven conductor who produces his best in pieces of great drama. He stated that his favourite composer is Sergei Prokofiev in his DVD recording of Prokofiev's Scythian Suite. He was awarded the 2006 Polar Music Prize together with Led Zeppelin.

Personal life

Valery Gergiev's requiem concert in Tskhinvali. 21 August 2008.

In April 2007, Gergiev was one of eight conductors of British orchestras to endorse the 10-year classical music outreach manifesto, "Building on Excellence: Orchestras for the 21st century", to increase the presence of classical music in the UK, including giving free entry to all British schoolchildren to a classical music concert.^[10]

Gergiev has also been a consistent supporter of peace in the Caucasus, particularly in the conflict between the Georgian central government and South Ossetia. After the 2004 Beslan school massacre, Gergiev made an appeal on television for calm and against any revenge. He conducted concerts in tribute to the victims of the massacre.^[11]

During the 2008 South Ossetia war, Gergiev accused the Georgian government of massacring ethnic Ossetians, triggering the conflict with Russia.^[12] He came to Tskhinvali and conducted a concert there near the ruined building of the South Ossetian parliament in tribute to the victims of the war.^[13]

In 1999, Gergiev married the musician Natalya Debisova, who is 27 years his junior and also a native Ossetian, and they have three children. Gergiev is a friend of Vladimir Putin and they are godfathers to one another's children.^[14]

Recordings

Gergiev has focused on recording Russian composers' works, both opera and symphonic, including Mikhail Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich. Most of his recordings, on the Philips label, are with the Kirov Orchestra, while he has also recorded with the Vienna Philharmonic. A recent undertaking, the complete Prokofiev Symphonies, is with the LSO.^[15]

Discography

Ballets

Operas

Orchestral Works

Orchestral works with soloists

Vocal Works

Videos

DVD

• Valery Gergiev in Rehearsal and Performance
• 60 Minutes: The Wild Man of Music, 2004.
• Valery Gergiev Conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in Prokofiev, Schnittke & Stravinsky, 2003.
• Verdi: La forza del destino, Marinsky Theatre Orchestra, 1998.
• Rimsky-Korsadov: Sadko, Kirov Opera, 2006.
• Puccini: Turandot, Vienna Philharmonic, 2006.
• Prokofiev: Betrothal in a Monastery, Kirov Opera, 2005.
• Shostakovich against Stalin, 2005.
• "All the Russias - a musical journey": a five-part documentary through the tradition and heritage of Russian music.

VHS

• Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov, Kirov Opera, 1993.
• Tchaikovsky: Pique Dame, Kirov Opera, 1994.
• Tchaikovsky: Pique Dame, Acts 1 and 2, Kirov Opera, 1992.
• Mussorgsky: Kovanshchina, Kirov Orchestra, 1994.
• Prokofiev: Fiery Angel, Polygram Video, 1996.

References

External links

• Valery Gergiev Official website (Russian)
• Valery Gergiev at Allmusic
• Liebesnacht Gergiev festival (Dutch)
• Biography of and CDs by Valery Gergiev by cosmopolis.ch