Valery Abisalovich Gergiev

Valery Gergiev (born May 2, 1953) is a Russian conductor of Ossetian origin, known for his emotional expression and his exceptional passion for music. Gergiev’s conducting of Richard Wagner’s operas is considered among the most important achievements in classical music in the last two decades.

Hard as it is to describe his musical qualities, it is safe to say that Gergiev is the most celebrated Russian conductor around the globe.

Being the General Director of the Mariinsky Theatre since 1996, he has worked with orchestras like the Viennese Philharmonic, Chicago Philharmonic, London Symphonic, Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Opera Orchestra, the Covent Garden Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Teatro alla Scala Orchestra. Since the 1997 Gergiev is the principal guest conductor of the Metropolitan Opera - a position created specially for him.

During his spectacular career he has performed and received awards in basically every part of the world, from Japan to the U.S.

An honorary citizen of half a dozen cities, Gergiev was born in Moscow and raised in the North Ossetian city of Vladikavkaz.

He started studying piano quite late when he was in his final school years. Nevertheless, he entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1972, joining the class of Professor Ilya Musin, renowned for teaching a number of world class conductors.

At only 23 Gergiev won the major Herbert von Karajan award in Berlin and was invited to work as an assistant conductor at the Mariinsky (then Kirov) Theatre. After a brief spell as the Principal Conductor at the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, he became the Principal Conductor at the Mariinsky in 1988. A similar position at the Rotterdam Philharmonic was added in 1995, at the London Symphony Orchestra - in 2007, leaving Gergiev with very little free time.

He oversees the running of five international Music Festivals, most notably the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg and the Moscow’s Easter Festival.

Furthermore, Gergiev is never shy to react to major world issues, especially those concerning his native region of the Caucasus. After the 2004 Beslan school massacre he conducted a series of concerts in tribute to the victims.

Valery Gergiev is married and has three children.

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