Kirill Petrenko has been chief conductor and artistic director of the Berliner Philharmoniker since the 2019-20 season.
Born in Omsk in Siberia, he received his training first in his hometown and later in Austria. He established his conducting career in opera with positions at the Meininger Theater and the Komische Oper Berlin. From 2013 to 2020, Petrenko was general music director of Bayerische Staatsoper. He has also made guest appearances at the world’s leading opera houses, including Wiener Staatsoper, Covent Garden in London, the Opéra National in Paris, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and at the Bayreuth Festival.
Moreover, he has conducted major international symphony orchestras in Vienna, Munich, Dresden, Paris, Amsterdam, London, Rome, Chicago, Cleveland and Israel.
Since his debut in 2006, a variety of programmatic themes have emerged in his work together with the Berliner Philharmoniker. These include work on the orchestra’s core Classical-Romantic repertoire, most notably with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Unjustly forgotten composers such as Josef Suk and Erich Wolfgang Korngold have been another of Petrenko’s interests. Russian works also have been highlighted, with performances of Tchaikovsky’s operas Mazeppa, Iolanta and The Queen of Spades attracting particular attention recently.
August 2022
Please note: Biographies are based on information provided to the CSO by the artists or their representatives. More current information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.
