Biography Wikipedia
Wikipedia:
Valery Abisalovich Gergiev PAR (Russian: Валерий Абисалович Гергиев, Ossetic: Гергити Абисали фурт Валери/Gergiti Abisali Furt Valeri; 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 artistic director of the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg.
Early life [edit]
Gergiev, born in Moscow, is the son of Tamara Tatarkanovna and Abisal Zaurbekovich. He and his siblings were raised in Vladikavkaz in their native North Ossetia in the Caucasus. He had his first piano lessons in 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 a pianist and director of the Mariinsky's singers' academy.
Career [edit]
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 to 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. He also participates in numerous music festivals, including the White Nights in St. Petersburg.
He became 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 fundraising for such projects as the recently built 1100-seat Mariinsky Hall, and intends to renovate the Mariinsky Theatre completely by 2010.
From 1995 to 2008, Gergiev was principal conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1997, he became principal guest conductor of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. His contract there ran until the 2007–2008 season, and his premieres included a new version of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, revised and reorchestrated by Igor Buketoff in a manner faithful to Mussorgsky's intentions (unlike the Rimsky-Korsakov revision mostly used for many years until the 1960s or 1970s).
In 2002, he 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 staged 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, in Costa Mesa, California in October 2006 in the Orange County Performing Arts Center, and in July 2007 in Lincoln Center, New York City to great acclaim and completely sold-out houses.
In 1988, Gergiev guest-conducted the London Symphony Orchestra for the first time. In his next appearance with the LSO in 2004, he conducted the seven symphonies of Sergei Prokofiev. This engagement led to his appointment in 2005 as the Orchestra's fifteenth principal conductor, succeeding Sir Colin Davis effective January 1, 2007. Gergiev's initial contract with the LSO was for 3 years. His first official concert as principal conductor of the LSO was on 23 January 2007. This was originally scheduled for 13 January, but was postponed due to Gergiev's illness.
In October 2007, he 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 was said to be hosted by the Emmy-winning American television personality Regis Philbin.
In June 2011, Gergiev assumed a highly prominent reformist role as chairman of the International Tchaikovsky Competition. He replaced academic judges with famous performers and introduced an openness to the process, arranging for all performances to be streamed live and free on the internet and for the judges to speak their minds in public as and whenever they wished. The contest was considered a great personal triumph. In January 2013 he let it be known that he would be stepping down from the LSO position at the end of his contract at the end of 2015.
Gergiev's conducting style is considered by many to be abrasive yet passionate. He is thought of as a "driven" conductor who is at his best in highly dramatic works. Curiously, he often conducts using a toothpick for a baton, as can be seen in his performances of Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol, Hector Belioz's Harold en Italie, and Verdi's overture to La Forza del Destino on YouTube. He said his favorite composer was Sergei Prokofiev in his DVD recording of Prokofiev's Scythian Suite. He was awarded the 2006 Polar Music Prize together with Led Zeppelin.
Social and political involvement [edit]
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.
He 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 appealed on television for calm and against revenge. He conducted concerts to commemorate the victims of the massacre.
During the 2008 South Ossetia war, Gergiev accused the Georgian government of massacring ethnic Ossetians, triggering the conflict with Russia. He came to Tskhinvali and conducted a concert near the ruined building of the South Ossetian Parliament as tribute to the victims of the war.
Personal life [edit]
In 1999, Gergiev married the musician Natalya Dzebisova, who is 27 years his junior and also a native Ossetian. They have three children, two boys and a girl. From time to time he has been reported to be a friend of Vladimir Putin, and they have been said to be godfathers to each other's children. But in a letter to The Daily Telegraph, he rejected the notion that he and Putin were each other's children's godfathers.
Recordings [edit]
Gergiev has focused on recording Russian composers' works, both operatic and symphonic, including Mikhail Glinka, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Alexander Borodin, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich, Igor Stravinsky and Rodion Shchedrin. Most of his recordings, on the Philips label, are with the Kirov Orchestra, but he has also recorded with the Vienna Philharmonic. A recent undertaking, the complete Prokofiev Symphonies, is with the London Symphony Orchestra. He is also in the process of recording the complete symphonies of Gustav Mahler with the London Symphony Orchestra; all are being recorded live in concert and will be issued on the London Symphony Orchestra Live label. In 2009, Gergiev and the Mariinsky launched a Mariinsky Live record label (being distributed by London Symphony Orchestra Live), with the first two recordings featuring music by Dmitri Shostakovich.
Gergiev's recording of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet with London Symphony Orchestra on LSO live in 2010 was the winner of the Orchestral category and the Disc of the Year of the 2011 BBC Music Magazine Awards.
