Gennadi Roshdestvensky is the son of two famous musicians. He received his musical education at the Moscow Conservatoire, studying conducting with his father and piano with Lev Oborin. While still a student there, he made his debut at the age of twenty in Tchaikovsky's 'Sleeping Beauty' at the Bolshoi Theatre. By the time he graduated he was already well known as a conductor both in the USSR and abroad.

From 1951 - 1961 he was staff conductor and then from 1964 - 70, Principal Conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre. There, he conducted among others, the Russian premieres of Britten's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and Khatchaturian's 'Spartacus' and the Bolshoi premiere of Prokofiev's 'War and Peace'. It was on a tour of the Bolshoi Ballet that he made his British debut in 1956, the first of over eighty visits to this country to date.

Other principal conductorships included the All-Union Radio and TV Orchestra, Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, USSR Ministry of Culture Orchestra and the Moscow Chamber Opera of which he was also a founder.

He is a regular guest with major orchestras in Europe, North America and Japan, also occasionally conducting opera in leading houses. His repertoire gives a new meaning to the word 'broad' and his wider knowledge of art and cultural history is reflected in the more than 500 recordings he has made for numerous companies.

Gennadi Rozhdestvensky also appears as a pianist in four-hand recitals with Viktoria Postnikova, researches, arranges, edits and orchestrates works of a wide range of composers, taught conducting for many years at the Moscow Conservatoire, commissions, advises, composes and promotes contemporary composers.

He has received awards from the Swedish Academy and in 1996 was presented with a Russian award by President Boris Yeltsin.

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gennadi_rozhdestvensky.jpg Dpi: 400. Size: 2773 x 1951 Credit: Wladimir Polak