May and June in Russian History

1953

may 2

Today Valery Gergiev, one of Russia’s most prominent symphonic and operatic conductors, turns 50. At 24, Gergiev won the Conductors’ International Competition, held by Herbert von Karajan’s Fund. Chief conductor of the Mariinsky Theatre since 1988 and a capable artistic director, Gergiev became the head of the theatre in 1996. His musical priorities, as a conductor, are the works of Modest Musorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Peter Tchaikovsky. Gergiev recently collaborated with Andron Konchalovsky to stage Sergei Prokofiev’s  War and Peace. Often a guest conductor with orchestras around the world, Gergiev is also Principal Guest Conductor at New York’s Metropolitan Opera.