Vassily Sinaisky

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 with Kirill Kondrashin at the Moscow Philharmonic and with Ilya Musin at the Leningrad Conservatoire provided him with an incomparable grounding. Soon after his success at the Karajan Competition, Sinaisky was appointed Chief Conductor of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, a post he held from 1976 to 1987. He then became Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Moscow Philharmonic, leading numerous high-profile projects with the Orchestra both in Russia and on tour.

He currently holds the position of Conductor Emeritus of the BBC Philharmonic, with which he has led the ‘Shostakovich and his Heroes’ festival, tours to Europe and China, and many appearances at the BBC Proms. He has also held the positions of Principal Guest Conductor of the Netherlands Philharmonic and Music Director of the Russian State Orchestra. As Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, Sinaisky conducted many acclaimed productions including Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Golden Cockerel and Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier.

Vassily Sinaisky’s recordings include the symphonies of Franz Schmidt for Naxos with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, and many with the BBC Philharmonic including works by Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Shchedrin, Glinka, Lyadov, Schreker and Szymanowski, while his most recent recording is of the Tchaikovsky and Grieg Concerti with Denis Kozhukhin and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin for Pentatone. He is Professor of Conducting at the St Petersburg Conservatoire.