Rozhdestvensky
He was born in Moscow into a family of musicians. In 1954, he graduated from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire (department of opera and symphony conducting, Nikolai Anosov’s class). In 1957, he completed his postgraduate studies at the Conservatoire.
In 1951, he made his Bolshoi Theatre debut, conducting Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty. From 1951-60 and from1978-82, he was Bolshoi Theatre conductor. From 1965-70, he was Bolshoi Theatre chief conductor. In 2000/01 season, he was Bolshoi Theatre general artistic ditector.
In 1961 he was appointed chief conductor of the Central Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra. From 1974-85, he was music director at the Boris Pokrovsky’s Chamber Music Theatre. From 1982-92, - chief conductor of the USSR Ministry of Culture State Symphony Orchestra.
From 1974-77 and from 1991-95, he was music director of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. From 1978-1981, - chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. From 1980-82, - chief conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.
He worked with Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, symphony orchestras of London, Chicago, Cleveland and others. Honorary conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra.
Performed numerous little-known works by Respighi, Handel, Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Stravinsky, Janacek, Dvorak, Mahler, Debussy, Ravel, Poulenc, Bruckner, Strauss, Berg, Schoenberg, Hindemith, Bartok, Martinu, Messiaen, Milhaud, Honegger, Orff, Britten, Zemlinsky, Roussel, Vieru and others.
He has participated in world premieres of new works by Shchedrin, Slonimsky, Eshpai, Tishchenko, Kancheli, Schnittke, Gubaidulina, Denisov.
He recorded all the symphonies of Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Sibelius, Bruckner, Mahler, Thaikovsky, Glazunov, Prokofiev and Shostakovich.
In 1974-2018 he taught at the Moscow Conservatoire.