vita
Alexander Alexandrovich Vedernikov
11.01.1964 — 30.10.2020
Alexander Vedernikov was born on January 11, 1964 in Moscow. His father was an outstanding singer, People's Artist of the USSR, soloist of the Bolshoi Theater Alexander Filippovich Vedernikov (1927–2018) and his mother was an organist, professor at the Moscow Music Conservatory, Honored Artist of Russia Natalia Nikolaevna Gureeva (1936–2022).
1979
He entered the Music College of the Moscow State Conservatory in piano, and at the same time he began to study conducting with Leonid Nikolaev.
1983
His first public performance as a conductor, on tour with the Symphony Orchestra of the Music College in Estonia (piano concerto by O. Taktakishvili; soloist Klarika Kuusk)
1988
He graduated from the Moscow P.I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory in piano and in opera and symphony conducting (Prof. L. Nikolaev, prof. M. Ermler)
1988–1991
Conductor at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Music Theatre
1988–1995
Assistant Chief Conductor and Second Conductor at the USSR State Television and Radio Grand Symphony Orchestra (Tchaikovsky Grand Orchestra, since 1993)
1990
Graduated from the postgraduate course of the Moscow State Conservatory
1995–2004
Originator, artistic director and chief conductor of the TV6 Orchestra "Russkaya Philharmonia"
2001–2009
Chief Conductor and Music Director of the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre
2007
Was awarded the honorary title of "Honored Artist of the Russian Federation"
2008
Was awarded the prestigious BBC Music Magazine Prize (for recording the 1st Piano Concerto by D. Shostakovich with the Della Svizzera Italiana orchestra, soloist Marta Argerich)
2009–2018
Chief Conductor of the Odense Symphony Orchestra, Denmark (since 2018 Honorary Conductor of the Orchestra)
2013
He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera with "Eugene Onegin" opera by Tchaikovsky
2018–2020
Chief Conductor of the Royal Danish Opera
2018
Chairman of the jury of the International Competition of Conductors named after E. Svetlanov in Paris
2019–2020
Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Mikhailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg
He entered the Music College of the Moscow State Conservatory in piano, and at the same time he began to study conducting with Leonid Nikolaev.
1983
His first public performance as a conductor, on tour with the Symphony Orchestra of the Music College in Estonia (piano concerto by O. Taktakishvili; soloist Klarika Kuusk)
1988
He graduated from the Moscow P.I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory in piano and in opera and symphony conducting (Prof. L. Nikolaev, prof. M. Ermler)
1988–1991
Conductor at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Music Theatre
1988–1995
Assistant Chief Conductor and Second Conductor at the USSR State Television and Radio Grand Symphony Orchestra (Tchaikovsky Grand Orchestra, since 1993)
1990
Graduated from the postgraduate course of the Moscow State Conservatory
1995–2004
Originator, artistic director and chief conductor of the TV6 Orchestra "Russkaya Philharmonia"
2001–2009
Chief Conductor and Music Director of the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre
2007
Was awarded the honorary title of "Honored Artist of the Russian Federation"
2008
Was awarded the prestigious BBC Music Magazine Prize (for recording the 1st Piano Concerto by D. Shostakovich with the Della Svizzera Italiana orchestra, soloist Marta Argerich)
2009–2018
Chief Conductor of the Odense Symphony Orchestra, Denmark (since 2018 Honorary Conductor of the Orchestra)
2013
He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera with "Eugene Onegin" opera by Tchaikovsky
2018–2020
Chief Conductor of the Royal Danish Opera
2018
Chairman of the jury of the International Competition of Conductors named after E. Svetlanov in Paris
2019–2020
Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Mikhailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg
Curriculum vitae
Since the mid-1990s, Vedernikov has regularly conducted opera and ballet performances at the best theaters in Europe: at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Comische Oper Berlin, at theaters in Italy (La Scala in Milan, La Fenice in Venice, Teatro Comunale in Bologna, the Royal Theater in Turin, the Rome Opera House), at London's Royal Theatre Covent Garden, at the Paris National Opera, at the Finnish National Opera, at the Royal Opera of Sweden, at the Royal Opera of Denmark, at the theaters of Zurich, Frankfurt, Trondheim, at the Opera Festival in Savonlinna.
He performed at the console of the best symphonic ensembles in Russia, including the Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra, the St.Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia. For several years (since 2003) he was a member of the conducting board of the Russian National Orchestra.
As a guest conductor, the maestro has regularly performed abroad with leading orchestras of Great Britain (BBC, Birmingham Symphony, London Philharmonic), France (Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra de Paris), Germany (Dresden Chapel, Bavarian Radio Orchestra), Japan (NHK Corporation Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra), Sweden (Royal Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony, Helsingborg Symphony), USA (National Symphony in Washington), Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Hungary, Czech Republic, Canada, China, Australia, Brazil and many other countries.
Eight years he stayed at the head of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow were an important creative period in the life of A.Vedernikov. During the period of ideological void formed after the collapse of the USSR, Vedernikov, the youngest musical director in the history of the theater, had to fill that void with new artistic content. His career launched the beginning of the renovation of the theater, and by 2009 the Bolshoi was transferred from the post-Soviet "turmoil" to the XXI century.
Performances staged during these years:
"Adriana Lecouvreur" by Chilea, "The Flying Dutchman" by Wagner, "Falstaff" by Verdi, "Turandot" by Puccini, "Ruslan and Lyudmila" by Glinka, original edition, "Boris Godunov" as the authors version, "Khovanshchina" by Mussorgsky, "Eugene Onegin" by Tchaikovsky, "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Virgin Fevronia" by Rimsky-Korsakov (featuring the Cagliari Opera House, Italy), "War and Peace", "The Fiery Angel" and "Cinderella" by Prokofiev, "The Children of Rosenthal" by Desyatnikov.
9 years of collaboration with the Odense Symphony Orchestra were another significant period of the maestro's career. As its chief conductor, Alexander Alexandrovich had the full support of the orchestra's administrations and musicians there, which gave him a free hand in all his creative ideas implementation (concert programs, selection of soloists, etc.). The level of the orchestra's playing increased at an incredible rate and listeners from all over Denmark and neighboring Sweden began to come to symphony concerts with Vedernikov in Odense. The culmination of this fruitful collaboration was the performance of Wagner's "Ring of the Nibelung" quadrilogy in 2018.
Russian classics certainly occupied a special place in the maestro's extensive repertoire — masterpieces by Glinka, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Taneyev, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Shostakovich. He also constantly included in the programs of his performances the works of Sviridov (composer he greatly appreciated and loved), Weinberg, Boris Tchaikovsky. Still he could easily radically change his repertoire profile from Russian to Western music of the XX century, conducting scores by R. Strauss, L. Janacek, D. Adams and others.
Alexander Vedernikov's recordings with various bands have been released by EMI, Russian Disc, Agora, ARTS, Triton, Polygram/Universal record companies. In 2003, he signed a contract with the Dutch company PentaTone Classics, specializing in the production of discs in the SuperAudio CD format (they recorded "Ruslan and Lyudmila" by Glinka, "The Nutcracker" by Tchaikovsky, fragments from operas and suites from ballets by Russian composers).
Having an excellent career abroad, Alexander Alexandrovich's soul nevertheless reached out to Russia and in 2019 he became the chief conductor of the Mikhailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg. He managed to release only one performance, "Aida" by Verdi.
Many projects remained unfulfilled: new productions at the Mikhailovsky Theater, a production of Wagner's "Parsifal" at the Royal Opera of Denmark, taking up the chief conductor position at the Sinfonia Varsovia orchestra and much more...
On October 30, 2020, he died in Moscow. He was buried at the Miusskoye Cemetery (Moscow).
He performed at the console of the best symphonic ensembles in Russia, including the Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra, the St.Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia. For several years (since 2003) he was a member of the conducting board of the Russian National Orchestra.
As a guest conductor, the maestro has regularly performed abroad with leading orchestras of Great Britain (BBC, Birmingham Symphony, London Philharmonic), France (Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra de Paris), Germany (Dresden Chapel, Bavarian Radio Orchestra), Japan (NHK Corporation Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra), Sweden (Royal Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony, Helsingborg Symphony), USA (National Symphony in Washington), Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Hungary, Czech Republic, Canada, China, Australia, Brazil and many other countries.
Eight years he stayed at the head of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow were an important creative period in the life of A.Vedernikov. During the period of ideological void formed after the collapse of the USSR, Vedernikov, the youngest musical director in the history of the theater, had to fill that void with new artistic content. His career launched the beginning of the renovation of the theater, and by 2009 the Bolshoi was transferred from the post-Soviet "turmoil" to the XXI century.
Performances staged during these years:
"Adriana Lecouvreur" by Chilea, "The Flying Dutchman" by Wagner, "Falstaff" by Verdi, "Turandot" by Puccini, "Ruslan and Lyudmila" by Glinka, original edition, "Boris Godunov" as the authors version, "Khovanshchina" by Mussorgsky, "Eugene Onegin" by Tchaikovsky, "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Virgin Fevronia" by Rimsky-Korsakov (featuring the Cagliari Opera House, Italy), "War and Peace", "The Fiery Angel" and "Cinderella" by Prokofiev, "The Children of Rosenthal" by Desyatnikov.
9 years of collaboration with the Odense Symphony Orchestra were another significant period of the maestro's career. As its chief conductor, Alexander Alexandrovich had the full support of the orchestra's administrations and musicians there, which gave him a free hand in all his creative ideas implementation (concert programs, selection of soloists, etc.). The level of the orchestra's playing increased at an incredible rate and listeners from all over Denmark and neighboring Sweden began to come to symphony concerts with Vedernikov in Odense. The culmination of this fruitful collaboration was the performance of Wagner's "Ring of the Nibelung" quadrilogy in 2018.
Russian classics certainly occupied a special place in the maestro's extensive repertoire — masterpieces by Glinka, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Taneyev, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Shostakovich. He also constantly included in the programs of his performances the works of Sviridov (composer he greatly appreciated and loved), Weinberg, Boris Tchaikovsky. Still he could easily radically change his repertoire profile from Russian to Western music of the XX century, conducting scores by R. Strauss, L. Janacek, D. Adams and others.
Alexander Vedernikov's recordings with various bands have been released by EMI, Russian Disc, Agora, ARTS, Triton, Polygram/Universal record companies. In 2003, he signed a contract with the Dutch company PentaTone Classics, specializing in the production of discs in the SuperAudio CD format (they recorded "Ruslan and Lyudmila" by Glinka, "The Nutcracker" by Tchaikovsky, fragments from operas and suites from ballets by Russian composers).
Having an excellent career abroad, Alexander Alexandrovich's soul nevertheless reached out to Russia and in 2019 he became the chief conductor of the Mikhailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg. He managed to release only one performance, "Aida" by Verdi.
Many projects remained unfulfilled: new productions at the Mikhailovsky Theater, a production of Wagner's "Parsifal" at the Royal Opera of Denmark, taking up the chief conductor position at the Sinfonia Varsovia orchestra and much more...
On October 30, 2020, he died in Moscow. He was buried at the Miusskoye Cemetery (Moscow).
