Alexander Dmitriev

Alexander Dmitriev was born into a musical family in Leningrad in 1935. He studied conducting and composition at the Leningrad Conservatory. After his graduation he continued his studies of conducting in Professor Rabinovich’s master classes. In 1966 he won the Second All-Union Competition of Conductors in USSR, and from 1968-69 he attended Hans Swarowsky’s master classes at the Vienna Academy of Music. In the 1970’s, Alexander Dmitriev worked with the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra as associate conductor to Evgeny Mravinsky. Today Dmitriev is both principal conductor and artistic director of the Academic Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Philharmonia, a post he has held since 1977. From 1990 to 1998 he was chief conductor of Stavanger Symphony Orchestra in Norway. Dmitriev is counted among the most significant of Russian conductors today – a worthy inheritor of the traditions established by the famous St. Petersburg school of conducting. In his country and abroad he has established himself as an accomplished musician with a wide and varied repertoire, and as a man with an extraordinary memory. He has toured extensively in Russia and abroad – both with his own orchestra and as guest conductor – and made numerous recordings. 2004