Biography

Vladimir Jurowski, who makes his San Francisco Symphony debut this week, is Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, as well as Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Artistic Director of the Russian State Academic Symphony Orchestra. Born in Moscow, Mr. Jurowski completed the first part of his musical studies at the Music College of the Moscow Conservatory. In 1990, he relocated to Germany and continued his education at the conservatories of Dresden and Berlin, studying conducting with Rolf Reuter and vocal coaching with Semion Skigin. He has held the positions of first capellmeister of the Berlin Comic Opera (1997-2001), principal guest conductor of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna (2000-03), and principal guest conductor of the Russian National Orchestra (2005-09).

Mr. Jurowski is a regular guest with many of the world's leading orchestras, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, and the Berlin and Oslo philharmonic orchestras. He made his international debut at the Wexford Festival conducting Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night in 1995, and in the same year conducted Nabucco at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. Mr. Jurowski made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1999 with Rigoletto, and has since returned for Jenůfa, The Queen of Spades, and Hänsel und Gretel. He has conducted Parsifal and Wozzeck at the Welsh National Opera, War and Peace at the Opéra National de Paris, Eugene Onegin at Teatro alla Scala Milan, Ruslan and Ludmila at the Bolshoi Theatre, and Iolanta and Die Teufel von Loudon at the Dresden Semperoper. Future engagements include debuts with the Vienna Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic, and NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, as well as return visits to the Chicago Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Royal Concertgebouw, Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, Tonhalle Orchester Zurich, Accademia di Santa Cecilia, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He will also conduct new productions of Ariadne auf Naxos at Glyndebourne, Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Metropolitan Opera, Moses und Aron at the Berlin Comic Opera, and The Fiery Angel at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.

Mr. Jurowski’s discography includes the first-ever recording of the cantata Exile by Giya Kancheli for ECM, Meyerbeer’s L’étoile du Nord for Marco Polo, Massenet’s Werther for BMG, and a series of records for PentaTone with the Russian National Orchestra. The London Philharmonic Orchestra has released a wide selection of Mr. Jurowski’s live recordings on its LPO Live label, and his tenure as Music Director at Glyndebourne has been documented in CD releases of Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery and DVD releases of his performances of La Cenerentola, Gianni Schicchi, Die Fledermaus, Don Giovanni, and Rachmaninoff’s The Miserly Knight. Other DVD releases include Hänsel und Gretel from the Metropolitan Opera; his first concert as the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Conductor, featuring works by Wagner, Berg, and Mahler; and performances with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

(October 2012)