Gergiev to Conduct Munich Philharmonic From 2015

The St. Petersburg Times

Published: January 30, 2013 (Issue # 1744)

Valery Gergiev, artistic director of the city’s Mariinsky Theater, has been elected principal conductor of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra for five years starting in 2015, Interfax reported.

“The decision was made on January 23, 2013 by a majority of Munich City Council in anonymous voting. Gergiev will replace Lorin Maazel, whose contract ends in 2015,” read a message on Gergiev’s page on a social network.

Gergiev’s contract with the German orchestra will run through 2020. In the 2011-12 season, world-renowned conductor Gergiev initiated the performance of the full cycle of Dmitry Shostakovich symphonies in Munich in a nine-concert series performed by the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and the Mariinsky Theater Symphony Orchestra.

“Valery Gergiev is indisputably one of the most important, influential and inspirational conductors of our time,” said Hans-Georg Kueppers, Munich’s chief culture official. He was the city’s first choice, Kueppers said.

Gergiev, 59, has been the principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra since 2007. The orchestra confirmed last week that Gergiev would not be signing a new contract with it when the current agreement ends in two years’ time.

The Moscow-born conductor, who studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, has headed the Mariinsky Theater for more than 20 years.