Rozhdestvensky Gennady Nikolaevich

Gennady Nikolaevich Rozhdestvensky - People's Artist of the USSR, Lenin State Prize laureate, professor.

Biography

Born May 4, 1931 in Moscow.

In 1954 he graduated from the Moscow State Conservatory (department of opera and symphony conducting, class of N. Anosov). In 1957 he graduated from the graduate school of the Conservatory.

Since 1951 he worked at the Bolshoi Theater, having performed the ballet Sleeping Beauty. In 1951-60 and 1978-82 - conductor of the Bolshoi Theater, in 1965-70 chief conductor, in the 2000-01 season - general artistic director of the Bolshoi Theater. He conducted ballets: Prokofiev's Cinderella, Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, Prokofiev's Tale of the Stone Celeb, Asafiev's Bakhchisarai Fountain, Glier's The Copper Horseman, Adan's Gisele, Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, Glier's The Red Flower, Chopenian's music to Chopin's music, Barantoinov's Valpurginov's music on Night, the music

operas: Rachmaninoff's "Francesca da Rimini," Prokofiev's "War and Peace," Mu- Sorgsky's "Boris Godunov," Muradeli's "October," Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Virgin of Fevronia," Tchaikovsky's "The Queen of Spades," Bizet's "Carmen Kotko" Prokofiev's "Lady kofiev," Lady akowshostakovich. "

At the Bolshoi Theater he performed ballets: "The Little Humpbacked Horse Shchedrin (1960)," The Nutcracker "by Tchaikovsky (1966)," Carmen Suite "by Bizet-Shchedrin (1967)," Spartak "by Khachaturian (1968)," Knight of the Sad Image "to the music of Strauss (1985)," Sketches "by Schnittke (1985);

and operas: Poulenc's "The Human Voice" (1965), Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1965), Holminov's "Optimistic Tragedy" (1967), Rimsky-Korsakov's "Mozart and Salieri" (1976), Shostakovich's "Kateryna Izmailova" (1980), Prokofiev's "Betrothal in a Monastery" (1982), Prokofiev's "The ker" (first edition, world premiere, 2001).

In 1961-74 - chief conductor of the Great Symphony Orchestra of Central Television and All-Union Radio.

1974-85 - music director of the Moscow Chamber Musical Theater under the direction of Boris Pokrovsky, where he staged the operas "Nose" by Shostakovich and "The Adventures of the Rake" by Stravinsky. In 1982-92 he headed the State Symphony Orchestra of the Ministry of Culture of the USSR.

1974-77 and 1991-95 - Artistic Director. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Stockholm

1978-81 - Principal conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

In 1980-82 he directed the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. He also worked with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam), symphony orchestras in London, Chicago, Cleveland and other groups. Honorary conductor of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra "Iomiuri."

He performs a lot of little-known music of the past, as well as music of the 20th century: works by Respighi, Handel, Mendelssohn, Dvorak, Mahler, Bruckner, Stravinsky, Janacek, Debussy, Ravel, Poulenc, Strauss, Berg, Schoenberg, Hindemith, Bartok, Martina, Messiana, Miyo, Onegger, Orf, Britten, Russen, Tsmer, Tsemeru. Under his direction, the world premieres of the works of Shchedrin, Slonimsky, Eshpai, Tishchenko, Kancheli, Schnittke, Gubaidulina, Denisov were performed.

He recorded all the symphonies of Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Sibelius, Bruckner, Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Glazunov, Prokofiev and Shostakovich on records.

Since 1974 he has been teaching at the Department of Opera and Symphony Conducting of the Moscow Conservatory, since 1976 professor, since 2001 - head of the department.

Gennady Rozhdestvensky at the rehearsal of Rimsky-Korsakov's opera "The Tsar's Bride" at the Bolshoi Theater in 2014

He died on June 16, 2018 in Moscow at the age of 87.

Compositions

The author of a number of works, including the oratorio "Reserved Word to the Russian People" for the reader, soloists, choir and orchestra to the words of A.M. Remizov. Author of the books "Conductor Fingering," "Thoughts on Music," "Preambles," "Triangles."

Awards

He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1967 and 1981), awarded the Diploma of the Academy of Charles Cros in Paris (for the performance of all Prokofiev's symphonies, 1969), Lenin Prize laureate (for his work on Khachaturian's ballet Spartak, 1970), holder of the Order of Cyril and Methodius (Bulgaria, 1972), Honorary Member of the Royal Swedish Academy (1975), Honorary Academician of the English Royal Academy of Music (1984), Hero of Socialist Labor (1990), laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation (1995), holder of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree (2001), holder of the Order of the Rising Sun (Japan, 2002), officer of the Legion of Honor (France, 2002), holder of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, ІІІ degree (2007).