Vasily Petrenko
As principal conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Vasily Petrenko has built the group into one of Britain's strongest ensembles, both artistically and financially. Assuming the leadership of several other prominent orchestras in the 2010s, Petrenko has been viewed widely as one of the top stars on the European conducting scene.
Vasily Petrenko was born in Leningrad, USSR (now St. Petersburg, Russia), on July 7, 1976. He is unrelated to Russian conductor Kirill Petrenko. He attended the Boys' Music School of the venerable St. Petersburg Capella and then went on to the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where his principal teacher was Ravil Martynov. Although he had master classes with Mariss Jansons and Esa-Pekka Salonen, Petrenko's musical education was otherwise completed entirely in Russia. He began his career as an opera conductor, serving as resident conductor of the St. Petersburg State Opera and Ballet Theatre from 1994 to 1997, and quickly developing a repertory of some 30 theatrical works. He also served as conductor of the State Academy Orchestra of St. Petersburg from 1994 to 2007. In the late '90s and early 2000s, Petrenko began winning competitions, some of them, like Spain's Cadaques International Conducting Competition (2003), outside Russia, and those led to new opportunities.
A guest conducting debut with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic in 2004 turned into a three-year appointment as principal conductor the following year; at 29, Petrenko was the youngest conductor ever to hold the post. He increased audience sizes, made strong recordings, and improved the orchestra's financial footing. His contract was extended to 2012, then to 2015 (with a promotion to chief conductor), and finally to an open-ended arrangement where Petrenko was required only to give three years' notice before stepping down. At the same time, he was taking on guest conducting assignments with orchestras in Britain, Russia, and Scandinavia, and these led to his appointment as principal conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain in 2009 and as chief conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic in 2011. He has also held guest conducting positions at various European opera houses. In 2015, Petrenko added the conductorship of the European Union Youth Orchestra to his portfolio. In 2018, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London announced Petrenko's appointment as its new chief conductor, effective in 2021. He was also principal conductor of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Russian Federation, but he suspended his participation in that group's activities after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
With the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Petrenko made many critically acclaimed recordings, including an award-winning 2007 reading of Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony and a series devoted to the symphonies of Shostakovich that concluded in 2015. In the late 2010s, Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic have recorded for the Onyx and Warner Classics labels; with the Oslo Philharmonic, he has recorded for Lawo Classics. His recorded repertory emphasizes Russian music, but he has also proven an enthusiastic interpreter of music by Elgar and other English composers. In 2019, Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic issued a recording of Elgar's Enigma Variations on Onyx. He was hardly slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic, issuing seven recordings with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the Oslo Philharmonic in 2020 and 2021. In 2022 and 2023, he and the Liverpool group backed pianist Boris Giltburg on installments in a new cycle of Beethoven's piano concertos, released on the Naxos label. By that time, Petrenko's recording catalog comprised more than 65 items.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 - Myaskovsky: Symphony No. 21
Vasily Petrenko, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Lawo Classics on Nov. 13, 2020
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Concertos pour piano
Eldar Nebolsin, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko
Classical - Released by Naxos on Oct. 27, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 6 - Myaskovsky: Symphony No. 27
Vasily Petrenko, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Lawo Classics on May 21, 2021
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Elgar: Sea Pictures & The Music Makers
Vasily Petrenko, Kathryn Rudge
Classical - Released by PM Classics Ltd. on Apr. 24, 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Symphonie n°7 "Léningrad"
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko
Classical - Released by Naxos on Apr. 29, 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Rite of Spring
Vasily Petrenko, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Onyx Classics on Nov. 3, 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Zemlinsky: Die Seejungfrau, Schreker: Der Geburtstag der Infantin
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko
Classical - Released by PM Classics Ltd. on Apr. 30, 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Symphonie n°8
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko
Classical - Released by Naxos on May 9, 2010
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Higdon : Concerto pour violon / Tchaïkovski : Concerto pour violon en ré majeur Op. 35
Hilary Hahn, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Jan. 1, 2010
Prise de Son d'Exception16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Petrushka, Rossini/Respighi: La Boutique Fantasque
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko
Ballets - Released by PM Classics Ltd. on Oct. 30, 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Variations & Fugue on a theme by Purcell, Op. 34
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko
Classical - Released by PM Classics Ltd. on Jun. 25, 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 5 & 0
Boris Giltburg, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko
Classical - Released by Naxos on Mar. 11, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: The Firebird & Rimsky-Korsakov: The Golden Cockerel Suite
Vasily Petrenko, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Ballets - Released by Onyx Classics on Nov. 30, 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Elgar: Symphony 2, Mina, Carissima, Chanson de Matin
Vasily Petrenko, The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphonic Music - Released by Onyx Classics on Feb. 24, 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Serge Rachmaninov : Symphonie n° 3 - Caprice bohémien - Vocalise
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Jan. 6, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Alexander Scriabin: Symphony No. 3, Op. 43, Symphony No. 4, Op. 54
Vasily Petrenko, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Lawo Classics on Oct. 23, 2015
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Symphony No.2
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Oct. 1, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev : Piano Concertos 1 & 3
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko, Simon Trpčeski
Concertos - Released by PM Classics Ltd. on May 26, 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Works for Piano
Boris Giltburg, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko
Classical - Released by Naxos on Oct. 11, 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich : Symphonies 1 & 3
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir, Vasily Petrenko
Classical - Released by Naxos on Mar. 1, 2011
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition/Khachaturian: Spartacus Suite
Vasily Petrenko, The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Onyx Classics on Nov. 22, 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo