Let’s recall some of the St.Petersburg Conservatory graduates who have
since become the pride and glory of their alma mater and Russian music
as a whole. Today we are remembering the city’s great conductors.
Topping this star-studded list is, of course, Nikolai Cherepnin. A Conservatory
graduate and a student of the great Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov,
Cherepnin also proved his bona fides as a very able composer too.
Conducting was his biggest forte though and Nikolai Cherepnin wrote a very
special chapter in the history of Russian conducting. A brilliant
musician, he conducted at the Mariinsky Theater, steered the orchestra
of the Russian Music Society and, subsequently emigrating to Europe, he
conducted the Russian Ballet performances there organized by the outstanding
Russian choreographer, Sergei Dyaghilev.
At the very dawn of the 20th century Nikolai Cherepnin launched a conducting
class at the St.Petersburg Conservatory and started developing a conductor-training
system all his own. Nikolai Cherepnin spawned a galaxy of first-rate conductors,
among then Alexander Gauk, who graduated in the memorable year of
1917…
Alexander Gauk started dreaming about a conductor’s career from an early
age and worked consistently to make this dream come true. His path was
punctuated by the trying years of the revolution and civil war that followed
shortly after. Talent and hard work ultimately prevailed making Gauk one
of the best conductors of his day and age. At various times he headed this
country’s leading symphony orchestras and served as the chief ballet conductor
at the Mariinsky…
In 1953 Alexander Gauk was appointed artistic director and chief conductor
of Moscow Radio’s Big Symphony Orchestra with whom he achieved nationwide
prominence making a number of excellent recordings, which are still great
pleasure to listen to.
Also a gifted mentor, Gauk taught at several conservatories, above all
the Leningrad, now St.Petersburg, Conservatory. The long list of
his students features, among others, Yevgeny Mravinsky who later worked
his way to become one of the world’s most celebrated conductors.
Surprisingly, as it may sound, Mravinsky failed his first attempt to enter
the Conservatory. Finally enrolling there, he started out as a composition
major and only later, feeling an urge for conducting, transferred to the
Conservatory’s conducting department.
Almost immediately upon his graduation, Mravinsky was invited to conduct
ballets at the Mariinsky Theater. He combined his stint there with parallel
commissions to play concerts with the St.Petersburg Philharmonic Society.
In 1938 he became the proud winner of the First National Conductors’ Competition
and was appointed artistic director and chief conductor of Leningrad Philharmonic
Orchestra.
During his fifty years at the helm of the LPO, Yevgeny Mravinsky turned
it into a closely-knit ensemble playing with clockwork precision and whose
masterful performance numbed even the most knowledgeable connoisseurs around
the world…
A living legend, Yevgeny Mravinsky was a shining beacon to many young musicians
who were literally lining up to get a much-cherished opportunity to attend
his rehearsals. The maestro’s hatred of giving lessons was only equaled
by his intolerance to any outside presence during the rehearsals. Only
a chosen few were allowed in and Yuri Simonov was one of those lucky ones
allowed to rub shoulders with the larger than life maestro…
Originally graduating from the Leningrad Conservatory as a viola major,
Yuri Simonov then did so also as a conductor. In 1966 he became a winner
of a national conductors’ contest and later firmed his success with a spectacular
win at the Santa Cecilia Competition in Rome. Appreciating the talented
young conductor, Mravinsky contrary to his longtime tradition of not giving
lessons started working with Yuri who completed his post-graduate studies
under Mravinsky’s guidance.
Simonov made it real big in music, working as the chief conductor of the
Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, leading symphony orchestras in Hungary and Belgium,
partnering with the best orchestras in Europe, the United States, Canada
and Japan and becoming the chief conductor with the Philharmonic
Orchestra in Moscow.
By the mid-20th century the Leningrad Conservatory had become Russia’s
main provider of symphony orchestra conductors. Ilya Musin was touted
as one of the best experts in this particular field of music. A Leningrad
Conservatory graduate and a student of Alexander Gauk’s, Musin concentrated
on teaching early on and had already come a very long way spawning dozens
of excellent conductors. Yuri Temirkanov is one of them…
Temirkanov made his first musical statement winning a national competition,
which gave him a chance to work with the country’s premiere orchestras.
For several years he conducted the city’s second philharmonic orchestra,
then moved on to take up the opera and ballet orchestra of the Kirov Theater,
now Mariinsky. In 1988 Yevgeny Mravinsky died and they elected Temirkanov
to be the artistic director and chief conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic
Society. Maestro Temirkanov has since been spending most of his time working
with the orchestra while, simultaneously, conducting orchestras in Britain
and America.
Musically endowed, driven and impassionate, Yuri Temirkanov has, over the
years become a wizened and very experienced professional whose interpretations
are as profound as they are mature and, at once so fresh and uplifting…
Small wonder that his very name attracts both listeners and the top-notch
soloists. The festivals Temirkanov regularly holds in St.Petersburg
bring together the very best performers from around the world.
In May Russia’s spruced up northern capital is playing host to yet another,
all-celebrity, Stars of the White Nights music festival organized by another
Conservatory gold medallist and onetime student of Professor Ilya Musin,
Valery Gergiyev. 
Gergiyev, who in 2003 celebrated his 50th birthday and who is in his very
prime as a conductor, belongs to the exclusive club of the world’s most
respected and listened to musicians, playing with the best orchestras around
and staging operas on the world’s premiere stages…
Since 1988 Valery Gergiyev has been heading the Mariinsky Theater and in
the past 15 years has put together what is widely hailed as one of the
best theater companies in existence…
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