State Academic Symphony
Orchestra "Evgeny Svetlanov",
Vasily Petrenko

State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia (Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra) is one of the oldest symphony ensembles in the country: in 2021 it celebrates its 85th anniversary. The first performance of the orchestra conducted by Alexander Gauk and Erich Kleiber, took place on October 5th, 1936 in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. 

Over the years, the State Orchestra was directed by outstanding musicians: Alexander Gauk (1936–1941), Natan Rakhlin (1941–1945), Konstantin Ivanov (1946–1965) and Yevgeny Svetlanov (1965–2000). In 2005, the ensemble was named after Yevgeny Svetlanov. In 2000–2002, the orchestra was headed by Vasily Sinaisky, in 2002–2011 – by Mark Gorenstein, in 2011–2021 – by Vladimir Jurowski. In 2021 Vasily Petrenko was appointed as the Artistic Director of the orchestra.

The orchestra’s concerts were held at the most famous concert venues in the world including the Great Hall of the Conservatory, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, the Bolshoi Theater of Russia, the Column Hall of the House of Unions, the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Pleyel in Paris, the Colon National Opera in Buenos Aires, the Suntory Hall in Tokyo. In 2013, the orchestra for the first time performed in the Red Square in Moscow. 

Herman Abendroth, Ernest Ansermet, Leo Blech, Nikolai Golovanov, Kurt Sanderling, Otto Klemperer, Kirill Kondrashin, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Mazur, Nikolai Malko, Igor Markevich, Yevgeny Mravinsky, Charles Munch, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Mstislav Rostropovich, Saulus Sondeckis, Igor Stravinsky, Mariss Jansons, Andrey Boreyko, Alexander Vedernikov, Valery Gergiev, Charles Dutoit, Alexander Lazarev, Alexander Sladkovsky, Leonard Slatkin, Yuri Temirkanov, Thomas Zehetmair, Mikhail Jurowski, Neeme Jarvi and other outstanding conductors directed at the conductor's desk of the orchestra. 

Famous musicians and ensembles performed with the orchestra including singers Irina Arkhipova, Galina Vishnevskaya, Montserrat Caballé, Sergei Lemeshev, Elena Obraztsova, Dmitry Hvorostovsky, Maria Guleghina, Placido Domingo, Jonas Kaufmann, Sergei Leiferkus, pianists Emil Gilels, Van Cliburn, Heinrich Neuhaus, Nikolai Petrov, Sviatoslav Richter, Maria Yudina, Valery Afanassiev, Boris Berezovsky, Elisso Virsaladze, Yevgeny Kissin, Nikolai Lugansky, Denis Matsuev and Grigory Sokolov, violinists LeonidKogan, Yehudi Menuhin, David Oistrakh, Boris Belkin, Maxim Vengerov, Gidon Kremer, Victor Pikaysen, Vadim Repin, Vladimir Spivakov and Victor Tretyakov, violist Yuri Bashmet , cellists Mstislav Rostropovich, Natalia Gutman, Alexander Knyazev and Alexander Rudin, as well as Sveshnikov State Academic Russian Choir and Yurlov State Academic Choir Capella of Russia. 

In recent years, the list of soloists collaborating with the ensemble has been recruited with the names of such singers as Ildar Abdrazakov, Dinara Alieva, Aida Garifullina, Khibla Gerzmava, Dmitry Korchak, Elisabeth Kulman, Jose Kura, Vasily Ladyuk, Julia Lezhneva, Waltraud Meier, Anna Netrebko and Rene Pape, pianists Marc-Andre Hamelin, Leif Ove Andsnes, Rudolf Buchbinder, Simon Trpceski, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Mitsuko Uchida, violinists Kristof Barati, Ilya Gringolts, Alina Ibragimova, Leonidas Kavakos, Patricia Kopatchinskaya, Sergei Krylov, Julian Rakhlin, Julia Fischer, Thomas Zehetmair, Nikolai Znaider and Pinchas Zuckerman, violist Maxim Rysanov. Considerable attention is also paid to joint work with young musicians, including conductors Maxim Emelyanychev, Dmitry Matvienko, Marius Stravinsky, Valentin Uryupin and Philipp Chizhevsky, pianists Andrei Gugnin, Lucas Debargue, Philipp Kopachevsky and Dmitry Masleyev, violinists Alena Baeva, Pavel Milyukov and Aylen Pritchin, cellist Alexander Ramm. 

Having visited abroad for the first time in 1956, the orchestra has since represented Russian art in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Denmark, Italy, Canada, China, Lebanon, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, USA, Thailand, France, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, South Korea, Japan and many other countries. 

The discography of the ensemble includes hundreds of LP records and CDs released by leading recording companies in Russia and abroad (Melodiya, Bomba-Peter, Delos, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI Classics, BMG, Naxos, Chandos, Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm, BelAir, ICA Classics, Pentatone, Toccata Classics, Fancymusic and others). A special place in this collection belongs to the Anthology of Russian Symphonic Music, which includes audio recordings of works by Russian composers from Glinka to Stravinsky (conducted by Yevgeny Svetlanov). The TV channels such as Mezzo, medici.tv, Russia-1 and Kultura, radio Orpheus made recordings of the orchestra’s concerts. 

Recently, the State Orchestra performed at the G. Enescu Festival in Bucharest, Another Space, Universe is Svetlanov! festivals and the XIV Guitar Virtuosos Moscow International Festival, Summer. Music. Museum Festival Festival in Istra; performed world premieres of works by Alexander Vustin, Victor Yekimovsky, Efrem Podgaits, Sergei Slonimsky, Vladimir Nikolaev, Alexei Retinsky, as well as Russian premieres of works by John Adams, Brett Dean, Gerard Grisey, Victor Kissin, Gyorgy Kurtag, Valentin Silvestrov, Olivier Messiaen, Rodion Shchedrin, Carl Orff, Vladimir Tarnopolsky and Karlheinz Stockhausen; took part in the International Tchaikovsky Competition, the Grand Piano Competition for young pianists; presented the annual cycle of Stories with Orchestra educational concerts eight times; visited the cities of Russia, Austria, Argentina, Brazil, Greece, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Peru, Uruguay, Chile, Germany, Spain, Romania, Turkey, China, Japan. Chamber evenings with the participation of soloists of the orchestra are also regularly held. 

Since 2016, the State Orchestra has been implementing a special project to support professional composer creativity involving close cooperation of the ensemble with contemporary Russian authors. The first in the history composer in residence was Alexander Vustin. For outstanding creative achievements, the collective has been bearing the honorary title of “academic” since 1972; in 1986 it was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, in 2006, 2011 and 2017 it dignified the gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation.

Vasily Petrenko is Music Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Chief Conductor of the European Union Youth Orchestra. From the 2021/22 season, he takes up the positions of Conductor Laureate of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Artistic Director of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia (Evgeny Symphony Orchestra). He served as Chief Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (2006 – August 2021), Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra (2013-2020), Principal Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (2009–2013), and Principal Guest Conductor of the Mikhailovsky Theatre, where he began his career as Resident Conductor (1994–1997).

Vasily Petrenko was born in 1976 and started his music education at the St Petersburg Capella Boys Music School – Russia’s oldest music school. He then studied at the St Petersburg Conservatoire where he participated in masterclasses with such luminary figures as Ilya Musin, Mariss Jansons and Yuri Temirkanov. 

He has worked with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome), St Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Czech Philharmonic, NHK Symphony and Sydney Symphony orchestras. He has appeared at the Edinburgh Festival, Grafenegg Festival and made frequent appearances at the BBC Proms. Recent years have seen a series of highly successful North American debuts, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, and the San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Montréal and St Louis Symphony orchestras. 

Equally at home in the opera house, and with over thirty operas in his repertoire, Vasily Petrenko made his debuts in 2010 at Glyndebourne Festival Opera (Macbeth) and the Opéra de Paris (Eugene Onegin), and in recent seasons has also conducted at the Mikhailovsky Theatre, Zürich Opera and Bayerische Staatsoper. In the 2019/20 season, he also made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera New York with a production of The Queen of Spades. 

Vasily Petrenko has established a strongly defined profile as a recording artist. Amongst a wide discography, his Shostakovich symphony cycle for Naxos Records with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra has garnered worldwide acclaim. With the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, he has recently released cycles of Scriabin’s symphonies and Strauss’ tone poems. 

In September 2017, Vasily Petrenko was honoured with the Artist of the Year award at the prestigious annual Gramophone Awards, one decade on from receiving their Young Artist of the Year award in October 2007. In 2010, he won the Male Artist of the Year at the Classical BRIT Awards and is only the second person to have been awarded Honorary Doctorates by both the University of Liverpool and Liverpool Hope University (in 2009), and an Honorary Fellowship of the Liverpool John Moores University (in 2012), awards which recognise the immense impact he has had on the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the city’s cultural scene.