Yuri Khatuevich Temirkanov is a Russian conductor of Circassian origin. Temirkanov has been the Music Director and Chief Conductor of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic since 1988.
Early life
Born in 1938 in the North Caucasuscity ofNalchik, Temirkanov began his musical studies at the age of nine. When he was thirteen, he attended the Leningrad School for Talented Children where he continued his studies in violin and viola. After graduating, he attended the Leningrad Conservatory as a viola major. He returned to the Conservatory to study conducting with Ilya Musin, and graduated in 1965.
Career
After winning the All-Soviet National Conducting Competition in 1966, Temirkanov was invited by Kirill Kondrashin to tour Europe and the United States with violinist David Oistrakh and the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. Temirkanov made his debut with the Leningrad Philharmonic in early 1967, and was then invited to join the orchestra as Assistant Conductor to Yevgeny Mravinsky. In 1968, he was appointed Principal Conductor of the then-renamed Leningrad Symphony where he remained until his appointment as Music Director of the Kirov Opera and Ballet in 1976. Temirkanov is a frequent guest conductor for the leading orchestras of Europe, Asia and the United States. He was the first Soviet artist permitted to perform in the United States after cultural relations were resumed with the Soviet Union at the end of the Soviet–Afghan War in 1988. In addition to leading the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Temirkanov was the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's 11th Music Director from 2000 until 2006 and is currently the Principal Guest Conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Conductor Laureate of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London. In 2015 he was assigned by Teatro La Fenice the prize A Life for Music, unofficially known as the Nobel Prize for Musicians.
State Prize of the Russian Federation in Literature and Art in 1998 – for concert programs 1995–1998 Academic Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Society named after Shostakovich
Russian Federation President Prize in Literature and Art in 2002
USSR State Prizes;
*1976 – for conducting opera "Peter the First" by A. Petrov
*1985 – for conducting and staging opera "Eugene Onegin" by Tchaikovsky on stage LATOB Kirov
Glinka State Prize of the RSFSR – for the years 1968–1970 concert programs
