Gennady ROZHDESTVENSKY

- the son of the conductor Nikolai Anosov and the singer Natalia Rozhdestvenskaya, he studied piano with Lev Oborin and conducting with his father at the Moscow Conservatoire.
In 1961 he was appointed artistic director of the Soviet Radio Symphony Orchestra with which he remained until 1974 and between 1965 and 1970 he was principal conductor at the Bolshoi Theatre. In 1972 he took over as music director of the Moscow Chamber Musical Theatre. In 1974-1977 Rozhdestvensky was artistic director of the Stockholm Symphony Orchestra also appearing in London as principal conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (1978-1981). In 1981-1983 he was principal conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.
In 1982 he was appointed principal conductor of the newly founded Symphony Orchestra of the USSR Ministry of Culture. In 1994 he became member of the Bolshoi Theatre's Artistic Council.
Nikolai Rozhdestvensky established himself as a renowned interpreter of the Russian classical and contemporary music.