Alexander Lazarev (Alexander Lazarev) |

Alexander Lazarev

One of the leading conductors of our country, People’s Artist of Russia (1982). Born in 1945. Studied with Leo Ginzburg at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1971 he won the XNUMXst prize at the All-Union Conducting Competition, the following year he won the XNUMXst prize and a gold medal at the Karajan Competition in Berlin.

Since 1973, Lazarev worked at the Bolshoi Theater, where in 1974, under his direction, the first production of Prokofiev’s opera The Gambler took place in Russian (directed by Boris Pokrovsky). In 1978, Lazarev founded the Ensemble of Soloists of the Bolshoi Theater, an important part of whose activities was the popularization of contemporary music; with Lazarev, the ensemble performed a number of premieres and made many recordings. In 1986, Lazarev was awarded the State Prize of the RSFSR for concert programs and performances of the Bolshoi Theater. In 1987–1995 – Principal conductor and artistic director of the theatre. The period of the maestro’s work at the head of the Bolshoi was marked by a rich touring activity, including performances in Tokyo, La Scala in Milan, at the Edinburgh Festival and the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

At the Bolshoi he conducted Glinka’s Ruslan and Lyudmila, Dargomyzhsky’s The Stone Guest, Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta, Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades, The Tsar’s Bride, The Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia, Mozart and Salieri”, “Sadko” by Rimsky-Korsakov, “Boris Godunov” and “Khovanshchina” by Mussorgsky, “Betrothal in a Monastery” by Prokofiev, “The Barber of Seville” by Rossini, “Rigoletto”, “La Traviata”, “Don Carlos” by Verdi, “ Faust” Gounod, “Tosca” Puccini; ballets The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky, Anna Karenina by Shchedrin, Ivan the Terrible to music by Prokofiev.

Under the direction of Lazarev, productions of the operas A Life for the Tsar by Glinka, The Snow Maiden, Mlada, The Tale of Tsar Saltan and The Night Before Christmas by Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky’s The Maid of Orleans, Borodin’s Prince Igor, ” The Miserly Knight” and “Aleko” by Rachmaninoff, “The Gambler” and “The Tale of a Real Man” by Prokofiev, “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” by Molchanov, “The Rape of the Moon” by Taktakishvili; ballets The Seagull and The Lady with the Dog by Shchedrin. A number of productions (“Life for the Tsar”, “Maid of Orleans”, “Mlada”) were filmed by television. With Lazarev, the theater orchestra made a number of recordings for the Erato company.

Among the orchestras with which the conductor collaborated are the Berlin and Munich Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam), the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra, the orchestra of the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome, the National Orchestra of France, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Swedish radio, NHK Corporation Orchestra (Japan), Cleveland and Montreal Orchestras. He has performed with the troupes of the Royal Théâtre de la Monnaie (Brussels), the Paris Opéra Bastille, the Geneva Opera, the Bavarian State Opera and the Lyon National Opera. The conductor’s repertoire includes works from the XNUMXth century to the avant-garde.

Debuting in London in 1987, Lazarev became a regular guest in the UK. In 1992–1995 He is Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor from 1994, and Principal Guest Conductor from 1997 to 2005. – Principal Conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (today – Honorary Conductor). The maestro’s work with British orchestras has resulted in numerous recordings, performances at the BBC Proms festival and a rich touring activity. From 2008 to 2016, Lazarev led the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, with which he recorded all the symphonies of Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov and is working on recording Glazunov’s symphonies.

Lazarev made dozens of recordings at Melodiya, Virgin Classics, Sony Classical, Hyperion, BMG, BIS, Linn Records, Octavia Records. Actively collaborates with the leading symphony ensembles of Moscow: the State Orchestra of Russia named after E.F. Svetlanov, the Russian National Orchestra, the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, “New Russia”, the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic. In 2009, Lazarev returned to the Bolshoi Theater as a permanent guest conductor. In 2010 he was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree. In 2016 he received the Moscow Prize in the field of literature and art for the production of Khovanshchina at the K.S. Stanislavsky and Vl.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko. The production also received the “Golden Mask” at the end of the 2014/15 season in the “Opera – Performance” nomination.

Among Lazarev’s works in recent years are productions of the operas The Enchantress by Tchaikovsky at the Bolshoi Theatre, Khovanshchina by Mussorgsky, The Love for Three Oranges by Prokofiev and The Queen of Spades by Tchaikovsky at the MAMT, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by Shostakovich at the Geneva Opera, The Adventures of The Rake” and Stravinsky’s “Kiss of the Fairy” at the opera houses of Lyon and Bordeaux, performances of such large-scale paintings as Mahler’s Seventh Symphony, Rachmaninov’s Second and Third Symphonies, Richard Strauss’s “Home Symphony”, Tchaikovsky’s “Manfred”, Janacek’s “Taras Bulba” and others .