27 Facts About Valery Gergiev

Valery Abisalovich Gergiev is a Russian conductor and opera company director.

Valery Gergiev was chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic from September 2015 until he was dismissed on 1 March 2022.

Valery Gergiev is the son of Tamara Timofeevna Lagkueva and Abisal Zaurbekovich Gergiev, both of Ossetian origin.

Valery Gergiev had his first piano lessons in secondary school before going on to study at the Leningrad Conservatory from 1972 to 1977.

Valery Gergiev's sister, Larissa, is a pianist and director of the Mariinsky's singers' academy.

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In 1978, Valery Gergiev became assistant conductor at the Kirov Opera, now the Mariinsky Opera, under Yuri Temirkanov, where he made his debut conducting Sergei Prokofiev's War and Peace.

Valery Gergiev was chief conductor of the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra from 1981 until 1985 – the year he made his debut in the United Kingdom, along with pianist Evgeny Kissin and violinists Maxim Vengerov and Vadim Repin at the Lichfield Festival.

In 1988, Valery Gergiev guest-conducted the London Symphony Orchestra for the first time.

In 1991, Valery Gergiev conducted a western European opera company for the first time, leading the Bavarian State Opera in a performance of Modest Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov in Munich.

Valery Gergiev participates in numerous music festivals, including the White Nights in St Petersburg.

Valery Gergiev became chief conductor and artistic director of the Mariinsky in 1988, and overall director of the company, appointed by the Russian government, in 1996.

In 1998, Valery Gergiev conducted the American Russian Young Artists Orchestra at the Moscow Youth Olympics.

Valery Gergiev conducted concerts to commemorate the victims of the massacre.

Valery Gergiev came to Tskhinvali and conducted a concert near the ruined building of the South Ossetian Parliament as tribute to the victims of the war.

In June 2011, Valery Gergiev joined the International Tchaikovsky Competition and introduced reforms to the organisation.

In 2015 Valery Gergiev became chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic, but his contract was terminated in March 2022 after he refused to condemn the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In March 2016, Valery Gergiev conducted the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra on a South American tour.

On 5 May 2016, Valery Gergiev performed at the Roman Theatre of Palmyra at a concert event called Praying for Palmyra – Music revives ancient ruins.

Valery Gergiev has been, according to Alex Ross in The New Yorker, "a prominent supporter of the current Russian regime" of Vladimir Putin.

In December 2012, Valery Gergiev sided with the Putin administration against the members of Russian band Pussy Riot and suggested that their motivation was commercial.

However, in September 2015, as he became chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic, Valery Gergiev said that he did not really sign the letter to Putin, but only had a phone conversation about it with Vladimir Medinsky.

The article specifically mentioned Valery Gergiev, who faced protests in New York City while performing.

Milan's La Scala sent a letter to Valery Gergiev asking him to declare his support for a peaceful resolution in Ukraine or he would not be permitted to complete his engagement conducting Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades.

In 1999, Valery Gergiev married musician Natalya Dzebisova—a teenager at the time, 27 years his junior, and of Ossetian descent.

From time to time, Valery Gergiev has been reported to be a friend of Putin; they have been said to be godfathers to each other's children, but in a letter to The Daily Telegraph Valery Gergiev rejected this notion.

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Valery Gergiev has focused on recording Russian composers' works, both operatic and symphonic, including Mikhail Glinka, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Alexander Borodin, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich, Igor Stravinsky and Rodion Shchedrin.

Valery Gergiev's recording of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet with London Symphony Orchestra on LSO Live in 2010 was voted the winner of the Orchestral category and the Disc of the Year for the 2011 BBC Music Magazine Awards.