Vassily SINAISKY
(Conductor)

Vassily Sinaisky’s international career was launched in 1973 when he won the Gold Medal at the prestigious Karajan Competition in Berlin. His early work as Assistant to the legendary Kondrashin at Moscow Philharmonic, and his study with Ilya Musin at the Leningrad Conservatoire provided him with an incomparable grounding.

Sinaisky was Music Director and Principal Conductor of Moscow Philharmonic from 1991-1996. He has also held the posts of Chief Conductor of the Latvian Symphony and Principal Guest Conductor of the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra. He was appointed Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Russian State Orchestra (formerly Svetlanov’s USSR State Symphony Orchestra) a position which he held until 2002. Sinaisky has been Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic since 1996 and is a regular and popular visitor to the BBC Proms each summer. In January 2007 Sinaisky takes over as Principal Conductor of the Malmo Symphony Orchestra in Sweden. His appointment coincides with the launch of the orchestra’s ambitious new development plan.

Recent engagements for Sinaisky include returns to the London Philharmonic and Concertgebouw Orchestra, and his debut with the NDR Sinfonie Orchester Hamburg. In 2006/7 he made debuts with the Pittsburgh, St Louis and Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestras. He will return to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, RSB Berlin, Czech Philharmonic, and City of Birmingham Symphony, with whom he enjoys regular and fruitful collaborations including a tour of Spain later this year. In Spring 2006 Sinaisky spearheaded the ‘Shostakovich and his Heroes’ festival in Manchester conducting five concerts over the course of January and February. Sinaisky has a distinguished pedigree as an operatic conductor, having been Principal Guest Conductor with the Bolshoi. Most recently he conducted performances of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta with Welsh National Opera, including one at the BBC Proms. Sinaisky’s conducting of a new production of Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at the Komische Oper Berlin in the 2004/05 season also received unanimous critical acclaim in the international press. In recent years, productions of Carmen and Der Rosenkavalier for English National Opera were both highly praised. Of Der Rosenkavalier, the Financial Times commented: “Vassily Sinaisky is a born Straussian.”

Vassily Sinaisky has made several recordings with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra for Chandos including works by Szymanowski, Shchedrin, Balakirev and Schreker and most recently a series of recordings of Shostakovich’s film music.