Biography
Born in Moscow, into a musical family: his father was the bass, Alexander Vedernikov, Bolshoi Theatre soloist, and his mother, Moscow Conservatoire professor, organist Natalia Gureyeva. In 1988, he graduated from the Moscow Conservatoire (Professor Leonid Nikolayev’s class) and, in1990, he completed his postgraduate studies there.
From 1988-90, he worked at Moscow’s Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theatre. From 1988-95, he was assistant to the chief conductor and second conductor of Gosteleradio’s Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra, with which he went on many tours of Russian cities and also to Austria, Germany, Greece, Turkey and Great Britain.
From 1995-2004, he was artistic director and chief conductor of the Russian Philharmonia Symphony Orchestra which he founded.
He has conducted Russia’s State Symphony Orchestra and the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Sankt-Peterburg State Philharmonia (a merited collective of Russia).
As guest conductor, he has appeared with such well known foreign orchestras as London’s Royal Phiharmonia, the Philharmonic Orchestras of Tokyo, London, Bergen, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Dresden State Capella, the RAI National Orchestra (Turin), the Royal Symphony Orchestra of Danish Radio, the Symphony Orchestras of Montreal, the Hague, Budapest, Sidney, the Orchestra of the Teatro Colon.
He was the Groningen Symphony Orchestra’s (Netherlands) first guest conductor.
Since 2003, he has been a member of the conductors’ board of the Russian National Orchestra, with which he has toured in France, Germany and the United States.
In January 2004, as part of the Russian National Orchestra’s tour of nine USA Cities, Alexander Vedernikov made his debut at the Carnegie Hall, New York, and the Kennedy Centre, Washington.
Alexander Vedernikov has appeared as guest conductor at leading opera houses, including La Scala, Teatro Reggio, in Turin, the Teatro Communale, in Bologna, the Teatro La Fenice, in Venice, Rome Opera, London’s Royal Opera.
In April, 2005, as music director of a new production of Boris Godunov (director Francesco Zambello), he made his debut at Paris National Opera (Opera Bastille).
Among the soloists and musicians with whom he has worked are Lisa Leonskaya, Nikolai Lugansky, Mikhail Pletnev, Martha Argerich, Vadim Repin, Yuri Bashmet, Natalia Gutman, Mstislav Rostropovich, Yelena Obraztsova, Sergei Leiferkus, Galina Gorchakova, Vladimir Chernov, Olga Borodina.
From 2001-2009, Alexander Vedernikov was music director and chief conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre.
At the Theatre he has conducted the following productions: Adriana Lecouvreur (2002, 1st Bolshoi Theatre production), Khovanshchina (2002), Turandot (2002), Glinka's Ruslan and Ludmila (in the original authorial version, 2003), Prokofiev's The Fiery Angel (2004, 1st Bolshoi Theatre production) and The Flying Dutchman (2004, 1st Russian performance of first version of opera).
In the 2004/05 season, he conducted Falstaff and Leonid Desyatnikov's The Children of Rosenthal (world premiere, opera commissioned by the Bolshoi Theatre).
In the 2005/06 season, he conducted Prokofiev's War and Peace and was music director of the Prokofiev ballet Cinderella.
In the 2006/07 season, was music director of the Eugene Onegin and Boris Godunov (1971 version). In 2008, – of the Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and of the Maiden Fevronia (Bolshoi Theatre and Teatro Lirico di Cagliari co-production).
In 2011, he returned to Bolshoi to conduct The Lost Illusions (world premiere, the ballet commissioned by the Bolshoi Theatre).
Since Alexander Vedernikov joined the Company, the Bolshoi Theatre has developed an active concert program, both in its own theatres, mainly at its New Stage, and at the country’s chief concert hall - the Big Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire. In the 2005/6 season, a joint season ticket system for the Theatre and the Moscow State Philharmonia was initiated for concerts to take place at the Big Hall of the Conservatoire. The following are among the works conducted by Alexander Vedernikov under the aegis of the Bolshoi Theatre (with, or without, the participation of guest soloists): Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust, Verdi’s Requiem, Scenes from the operas of Wagner, the music of Richard Strauss, Alban Berg, Dmitry Shostakovich, Georgy Sviridov.
In 2009-18, he has been the chief conductor of Odense Symphony Orchestra (Denmark).
He also worked regularly as a guest with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Danish National Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestra Verdi, Milan, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington DC., the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, the Russian National Orchestra, the Musica viva Orchestra and others. He has done a production of Tosca for the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari (Italy), and of Richard Strauss’ Salome for the Berlin Komische Oper.
In 2018-2020 Alexander Vedernikov has been the chief conductor of the Royal Danish Opera.In 2019-20, the musical director and principal conductor of the Mikhailovsky Theatre.
Art. Lebedev Studio