Alexander Dmitriev
Conductor

Artistic director and chief conductor of the St.Petersburg Academic Symphony Orchestra Alexander DMITRIEV was born in Leningrad into the family of a Leningrad Philharmonic musician. He went to the Leningrad Choral School named after Glinka - an institution that gave Russia many a celebrated alumnus. Dmitriev continued his music education at the Leningrad Conservatory, where he studied choir conducting under the tutelage of E. Kudriavtseva, and learned choral theory from Y. Tiulin. But practice took precedence over theory, and Dmitriev enrolled in a graduate course in Symphonic Conducting, taught by Nikolai Rabinovich.

Dmitriev began his conducting career while still a student. His debut was the Symphony Orchestra of Karelian Radio and Television, which he conducted for ten years from 1961 to 1971. That decade saw many milestones in Dmitriev’s career as a conductor. In 1966, he won the 2nd National Conducting Competition. In 1968 through 1969, he took an internship at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria, under H. Swarovski and K. Osterreicher. Then E. Mravinsky invited Dmitriev to join his highly reputable orchestra.

At the same time, Dmitriev mastered another aspect of his craft: musical drama. In 1971, Dmitriev became head conductor of the Leningrad Maly Opera and Ballet Theater, where he pioneered the operas Iphigenia in Aulis and Iphigenia auf Tauris by Gluck and Die Kluge by Carl Orff. In 1974, Dmitriev teamed up with O. Vinogradov and Y. Liubimov to stage the ballet Yaroslavna, probably the most popular work ever composed by Tishchenko. In 1977, Dmitriev crossed the Arts Square from the Maly Theater to the Philharmonia to become chief conductor of the St.Petersburg Academic Symphony Orchestra, but he would keep the works of his famous contemporaries Shchedrin, Petrov, Slonimsky, Falik and Ustvolskaya in his repertoire.

Dmitriev has worked with the St.Petersburg Academic Symphony Orchestra, once guided by his mentor Nikolai Rabinovich, for 30 years; at the same time he also conducted the Symphony Orchestra of Stavanger, Norway, from 1990 to 1998, and taught the symphony conducting at the Leningrad Conservatoire till 1992).

The Dmitreiv’s partnership with his orchestra has been filled with much touring in Russia, Europe, Asia and the Americas. Dmitriev augmented the orchestra’s discography with all the symphonies of Beethoven and Schubert, and numerous works by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Ravel and Britten. The orchestra and its chief conductor have treated St. Petersburg to the premiere of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, and a concert premiere of Pelleas and Melisanda by Debussy among others, not to mention many works by Leningrad (St. Petersburg) composers. Posters of Dmitriev’s concerts demonstrate music of nearly all epoch and styles. Alexander Dmitriev especially likes French music; he conducted many works by Berlioz, Debussy, Honegger and Ravel. It’s remarkable that Ravel’s Valse completed the St.Petersburg Academic Symphony Orchestra concert program dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Maestro Dmitriev’s day of birth.

The repertoire of Alexander Dmitriev includes works of American and Scandinavian composers, Russian music of XIX-XX centuries, and symphonic classics of the XX century. Modern music is also a part of creative interests of the People’s Artist of the Soviet Union, National Prize winner, Professor Alexander Dmitriev. He regards presentation of new works performed by St.Petersburg Academic Symphony Orchestra for the St.Petersburg audience as his «contribution on musical culture of St.Petersburg».

"... many Western conductors pump up this music (10-th Symphony by Shostakovich) unduly, as if equating vulgar frenzy with emotional conviction.Thank goodness for Dmitriev for showing us how it should be done." ( Chicago Tribune)

He has recorded many compositions by Russian and Western authors and among them all symphonies by Schubert and Beethoven for "Melodia" and four CDs with symphonies by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov for "Sony classical. "It's the kind of performance (Tchaikovsky, Symphony No 5) with if given live would almost certainly bring the house down..."- CD-Review.

Since 1990 until 98 Dmitriev was also the Chief Conductor of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra ( Norway ).

"The fact that this disc is one of the year's more notable releases may come as a surprise to many observers of the European scene (especially in Norway )..." (CD with composition by Ravel and Debussy) - CD-Review.

"Dutch conductor Frans Briiggen and the present Music Director Alexander Dmitriev have brought the Stavanger Orchestra to a high level of exellence." (CDs with composition by H.S?verud) - American Record Guide.

Alexander Dmitriev is a Professor at the St.Petersburg Conservatoire and the winner of the State Prize of Russia.

On April 8 th 2005 President of Russia, Vladimir Putin awarded Alexander Dmitriev the ‘Order of Honour for Merit in the field of Culture and Art, in recognition of his longstanding achievements’.