Alexander Sergeevich Dmitriev (Alexander Dmitriyev) |

Alexander Dmitriyev

People’s Artist of the USSR (1990), professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, People’s Artist of the RSFSR (1976), Honored Artist of the Karelian ASSR (1967).

Graduated from the Leningrad Choral School with honors (1953), from the Leningrad State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire in choral conducting by E.P. Kudryavtseva and in the class of music theory by Yu. S. Rabinovich (1958). In 1961 he was invited as a conductor to the Symphony Orchestra of the Karelian Radio and Television, since 1960 he became the chief conductor of this orchestra. At the II All-Union Competition of Conductors (1962) Dmitriev was awarded the fourth prize. Trained at the Vienna Academy of Music and Performing Arts (1966-1968). He was a trainee of the Honored Collective of the Republic of the Philharmonic under the direction of E. A. Mravinsky (1969-1969). Since 1970 he has been chief conductor of the Academic Maly Opera and Ballet Theatre. Since 1971 – Chief Conductor of the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonic named after D. D. Shostakovich.

“For me, as a conductor, the principle has always been indisputable “to keep not the head in the score, but the score in the head,” said the maestro, who often conducts from memory. Behind Dmitriev’s shoulders is almost half a century of conducting activity, including at the Leningrad Maly Opera Theater (now the Mikhailovsky). For the past thirty-three years, the musician has led the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic.

The conductor’s extensive repertoire includes works that he was the first to perform in St. Petersburg. Among them are Handel’s oratorio The Power of Music, Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, Scriabin’s Preliminary Act, and Debussy’s opera Pelléas et Mélisande. Alexander Dmitriev is a regular participant in the Petersburg Musical Spring festival, where he performed many premieres of his countrymen. The conductor conducts an intensive concert activity in Russia and abroad, successfully touring in Japan, the USA, and European countries. He made a large number of recordings at Melodiya and Sony Classical.