Around the Music Festival

The State Academic Symphony Orchestra Russia “Evgeny Svetlanov”, based in the Russian capital of Moscow, has named Philip Chizhevsky as Artistic Director.

The post of artistic director of the orchestra had been vacant since Vasily Petrenko, who had just been appointed in 2021, stepped down in 2022 over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Evgeny Svetlanov” was founded in 1936 and was called the Soviet State Symphony Orchestra during the Soviet Union era. Its first artistic director was Aleksandr Gauk, who was trained by the famous conductor Evgeny Svetlanov from 1965 to 2000, and the orchestra became famous as one of the leading orchestras in the Soviet Union for its robust music.

Since 2006, the orchestra has been under the direction of Vassily Sinaisky (2000-2002), Mark Gorenstein (2002-2011), and Vladimir Jurowski(2011-2021).

Chizhevsky was born in Moscow and is 39 years old. After studying at the Moscow Conservatory, he won the “All-Russian Conducting Competition” in 2008, and that same year he founded the “Questa Musica Ensemble” and became the Artistic Director of the Gnesin Music Academy, as well as the Choir Conductor and Lecturer of Conducting. Since then, he has conducted a wide range of Russian operas and orchestras.

PHOTO：meloman.ru