Alexander Vedernikov:

Music Director and Chief Conductor, Bolshoi Theatre

Member of the Conductor Collegium, Russian National Orchestra

Alexander Vedernikov was appointed Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre in 2001 and since that time he has been credited with rebuilding the Theatre’s historical reputation for artistic excellence. He has led many productions at the Bolshoi, including a new production of Boris Godunov in the original Mussorgsky orchestrations (2007), Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin (2006), Puccini’s Turandot (2006), Prokofiev's Cinderella (2006), Prokofiev’s War and Peace (2005/2006), Leonid Desyatnikov’s The Children of Rosenthal (world premiere, commissioned by the Bolshoi Theatre), The Flying Dutchman (2004), Prokofiev’s The Fiery Angel (2004), Ruslan and Ludmila (2003), Turandot (2002), Khovanshchina (2002) and Adriana Lecouvreur (2002).

Alexander Vedernikov has in recent years also developed the Bolshoi’s programme of symphony concerts, and his concerts have featured Prokofiev's Cinderella, Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust, Verdi’s Requiem, scenes from the operas of Wagner, and music by Richard Strauss, Alban Berg, Dmitry Shostakovich, and Georgy Sviridov. Under his direction, the orchestra of the Bolshoi has toured extensively including a tour to Germany in February 2007 and a season of opera and ballet at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in July 2006 (including The Fiery Angel and Boris Godounov) where the orchestra in particular was singled out for its exceptional playing.

Apart from a successful career in Russia, he has also been invited to perform extensively throughout Europe and further afield including appearances with the Staatskapelle Dresden, Montreal Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Tokyo Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the RAI National Orchestra (Turin), the Danish National Symphony Orchestra/DR, Bergen Philharmonic, Budapest Symphony and the Orchestra of the Teatro Colon.

In the 2006/07 season his engagements included invitations to the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bayerischer Rundfunk Orchestra (at Mariss Janssons’ personal request), Maggio Musicale Florence, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana (with Martha Argerich at the Martha Argerich Project in Lugano), Netherlands Philharmonic, Stockholm Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony, Hamburg Philharmonic, and symphonic programmes with the orchestras of the Teatro Comunale Florence and Teatro Comunale Cagliari.

In the field of opera, Alexander Vedernikov has appeared as guest conductor at La Scala Milan, La Fenice, the Teatro Comunale Bologna, the Teatro Reggio Turin, and Rome Opera. In April 2005, he made his debut at the Bastille Opera in Paris conducting a new production of Boris Godunov directed by Francesca Zambello.

Born in Moscow into a musical family - his father was a bass soloist at the Bolshoi and his mother a professor of organ at the Moscow Conservatoire - he studied at the Moscow Conservatoire and completed his postgraduate studies in 1990.

From 1988-90, he worked at Moscow’s Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theatre. From 1988-95, he was assistant to the chief conductor and second conductor of the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra (formerly Gosteleradio’s Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra), whom he accompanied on many tours in Russia, Austria, Germany, Greece, Turkey and Great Britain. In 1995, he founded the Russian Philharmonia Symphony Orchestra and was Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of this orchestra until 2004. He has conducted Russia’s State Symphony Orchestra and the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the St Petersburg Philharmonic. Since 2003, he has been a member of the conductors’ collegium of the Russian National Orchestra, with whom he has toured in France, Germany and the United States. In January 2004, as part of the Russian National Orchestra’s tour of nine cities, Alexander Vedernikov made his debut at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Centre, Washington.

Future invitations include debuts with the BBC Symphony, Sao Paolo Symphony and National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, and re-invitations to the Danish National Symphony Orchestra/DR, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, the orchestra of the Teatro Comunale Bologna, and the Gothenburg Symphony.