Dmitri Kitajenko, Conductor
Biography
Dmitri Kitaenko is one of the great conductors of our time. Equally esteemed in Eastern and Western Europe, he regularly conducts prestigious orchestras like the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Budapest Festival Orchestra. His complete recording of Shostakovich's symphonies with the Cologne Gürzenich Orchestra (2005) received among others the Echo Klassik Prize, one of the most sought after awards in the classical field. His recording of Prokofiev's symphonies is considered by various critics as the benchmark recording. Since 2010 he has turned his attentions to a Tchaikovsky cycle with the Cologne Gürzenich Orchestra (OehmsClassics), which is enjoying an enthusiastic reception from the public as well as from critics (A great success story rings out from Cologne FonoForum).
For the 2012|13 concert season Dmitri Kitaenko has been appointed principal guest conductor of the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra, a position associated with a lively concert schedule and tours. He has been honorary conductor of the Cologne Gürzenich Orchestra since 2009. As a juror in the International Malko Competition under the chairmanship of Lorin Maazel he is involved in supporting the next generation of conductors.
Dmitri Kitaenko was born in Leningrad, where he studied at the renowned Glinka School of Music and the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory. He went on to study with Leo Ginzburg in Moscow and in the legendary conducting class of Hans Swarowsky and Karl Österreicher in Vienna, obtaining distinctions in all his studies. In 1969 he won a prize at the first International Herbert von Karajan Conducting Competition in Berlin and was appointed principal conductor of the influential Stanislavsky Theatre in Moscow at the age of only twenty-nine. In the early 1970s he very successfully conducted a great number of operas in Moscow and in cities such as Vienna, Munich and Brussels. He assumed the post of principal conductor of the Moscow Philharmonic in 1976 and established it as one of the leading orchestras in the world.
In 1990 Dmitri Kitaenko came to the West, successively becoming principal conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (hr-Sinfonieorchester) and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as principal guest conductor of the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. He has made guest appearances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala and many American orchestras.
Dmitri Kitaenko has made numerous remarkable recordings with orchestras including the Moscow Philharmonic, the Frankfurt RSO, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Cologne Gürzenich Orchestra, including complete recordings of the symphonies of Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Prokofiev and Shostakovich. He has also recorded works by Chopin, Gade, Grieg, Richard Strauss and Siegfried Wagner as well as contemporary music.
Nordic Artists Management represents Dmitri Kitajenko in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland.