Gennady Rozhdestvensky

From Freepedia

Gennady Rozhdestvensky (Генна́дий Рожде́ственский) (born May 4, 1931) is a Russian conductor.

He was born in Moscow to musician parents as Gennady Nikolayevich Anosov, but adopted his mother's maiden name (in its masculine form) for his professional career. He studied conducting with his father Nikolai Anosov at the Moscow Conservatory and piano with Lev Oborin. Already known for having conducted Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre at the age of 20, he quickly established his reputation. He premiered many works of Soviet composers, as well as giving the Russian premiere of Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

He has had tenures with the following orchestras:

• 1951-61 Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre (conductor)
• 1961-74 Symphony Orchestra of All-Union Radio and Television (Moscow)
• 1964-70 Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre (principal conductor)
• 1974-85 Chamber Theatre Orchestra
• 1974-77 Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra (artistic director)
• 1978-81 BBC Symphony Orchestra (chief conductor)
• 1980-82 Vienna Symphony Orchestra
• 1983-91 USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra
• 1992- Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra

With the USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra he recorded all the symphonies of Shostakovich, Glazunov, Bruckner, Schnittke, Honegger, and Vaughan Williams.

He has also conducted many of the world's greatest orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the London Symphony Orchestra.

Among the works dedicated to Rozhdestvensky is Sofia Gubaidulina's symphony Stimmen... Verstummen....

In 1969 he married the pianist Viktoria Postnikova.

Like many conductors of modern repertoire, he does not use a baton.