Persons

Nikolay Alexeev

Chief Conductor of the St Petersburg Philharmonia
People's artist of Russian Federation
Winner of the International Herbert von Karajan Foundation competition
Laureate of the State Prize of the Republic of Estonia

Biography

People's Artist of Russia, Chief Conductor of the St Petersburg Philharmonia Nikolay Alexeev graduated from the Leningrad choir school named after M.I.Glinka and the Leningrad Conservatory as a choral (class of A. Mikhaylov) and opera-symphonic conductor (class of A. Jansons). He had his traineeship at the Kirov (Mariinsky) Opera under Yuri Temirkanov.

Winner of the Herbert von Karajan Foundation’s International Competition (West Berlin, 1982), V.Talich Competition (Prague, 1985) and Min-On (Tokyo, 1985), the musician’s life is full of artistic events. He led the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra; performed with the Moscow Philharmonic orchestra, the Tchaikovsky Symphony and Russian National orchestras; worked with such foreign companies as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Rotterdam, Dresden, Stuttgart, and Copenhagen Philharmonic orchestras, the Berlin and Baltimore symphony orchestras, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and the New Japan Philharmonic.

In 2001–2010 he led the Pribaltic’s oldest Estonian National Symphony Orchestra (in 2006 he was awarded the 3rd degree Estonian order of the White star for his work with the orchestra, and in 2010 he received the Estonian Republic’s prize in the sphere of culture). 

The conductor's concert activities cover the countries of Europe (Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Slovenia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania), Latin America, South Korea, Japan and the USA. From 2018 till January 2024 Nikolay Alexeev was the Principal Conductor of the Ulsan Philharmonic Orchestra (Republic of Korea) – the first foreign conductor in the history of the orchestra to lead it.

Since 2000, Nikolay Alexeev has been the conductor of the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2022 he took over the position of the orchestra’s Chief Conductor. Since 2024 – the Chief Conductor of the Philharmonia.

Nikolay Alexeev and the orchestra performed all of the Brahms' symphonies and Ein Deutsches Requiem, a number of works by Stravinsky and Prokofiev, including a rarely performed Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution, Mahler's Eighth Symphony, called Symphony of a Thousand, Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder and Messiaen’s Turangalila, Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler, Janacek’s Taras Bulba and Glagolitic Mass. Maestro regularly introduces new works to the public. He conducted a number of premiere performances: Tishchenko’s Second and Fifth Dante Symphonies, Slonimsky’s Thirteenth Symphony, Korolev’s Figure of Speech and Heretic, Korchmar’s Tsar's Chants; Russian premieres of Borisova-Ollas’s First Symphony The Triumph of Heaven and Wunderbare Leiden, Varenbergh’s Romeo and Juliet fantasies for piano and orchestra, inspired by Rachmaninov’s Symphony ¹ 1, St Petersburg premieres of Shchedrin's Concerto Cantabile and Paganini’s Fifth violin concerto.

In 2017, the conductor was awarded the Prize of the St Petersburg Government for the concert programs of 2016. In February 2022, by the President’s decree Nikolay Alexeev was awarded the Order of Friendship for his great contribution to the cultural and artistic development of the country and for the long years of fruitful activity.

The conductor's performances opened and closed the last three seasons, two of which were dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Philharmonic. On 9 August 2022 the conductor led the performance of the Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony by the united St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra within the framework of the Memory Score, a music and history project dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the siege premiere of the symphony. In December 2022, the opening concert of the XXII Arts Square International Winter Festival (soloist D. Matsuev) took place under the baton of Nikolay Alexeev. Also, the programs dedicated to the 140th anniversary of the Distinguished Orchestra of Russia, the anniversaries of Sergei Rachmaninoff (soloist N. Lugansky) and Evgeny Mravinsky (soloist Y. Stanchul) were the past season’s memorable events.

In the 2023/2024 season’s poster – the opening concert with pianist D. Shishkin (the program featured music by Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony (for the 70th anniversary of the premiere)), performance of Shostakovich's Thirteenth Symphony at the opening of the XXIII Arts Square Festival dedicated to the Memory of maestro Yuri Temirkanov, with participation of the Bolshoi Theatre Choir (soloist A.Tikhomirov), and Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Leningrad complete siege lifting on January 27, 2024, a concert from the works of Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev with D.Matsuev, piano concerts by Beethoven and Prokofiev with the participation of N.Lugansky and I.Papoyan, as well as Mahler's First Symphony, Prokofiev’s Sixth Symphony, Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances.

In September 2022, the Distinguished Orchestra under the leadership of Nikolay Alexeev toured in Sochi, in August 2023 – again in Sochi and Nalchik, and in June 2023, under the direction of the conductor, a foreign tour was held in seven major cities of China. In October 2023, Nikolay Alexeev held two concerts with the Distinguished Orchestra at the Dmitry Hvorostovsky International Festival in Krasnoyarsk.

The conductor's actively cooperating with the Philharmonia’s academic symphony orchestra, opening and closing the orchestra's seasons, performing with such soloists as pianists B.Douglas, E.Leonskaja, E.Virsaladze, E.Mechetina, violinist S.Dogadin and cellists N.Hakhnazaryan, Z.Fung, and touring as well. In the 2019/2020 season they had two foreign tours: China (September 2019) and Latvia (March 2020, along with State St Petersburg Eifmann Ballet Theatre). This new season Nikolay Alexeev once again opened the Academic Symphony Orchestra's season, pianist F.Kopachevsky performed in the opening concert along with the conductor.

February 2024

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