Makris Music Society

Alexander Polyanichko, an internationally renowned conductor and educator regularly leads conducting masterclasses in cooperation with organizations such as Peter the Great Music Academy, Royal Baltic Festival, Hermitage Theatre, and St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic. A graduate of the Leningrad State Conservatory and the former student and assistant of the eminent conductor and pedagogue Ilya Musin (whose students were Yuri Temirkanov, Semyon Bychkov, and Valery Gergiev, among others), maestro Polyanichko has been one of Musin’s biggest proponents, carrying the great tradition of the St. Petersburg school of conducting. Maestro Polyanichko’s artistry, knowledge, his genuine willingness to share his experiences, his sense of humour, as well as his friendly and respectful manner of communication create a free exchange of ideas and a spirit of collaboration, while he and his students search for ways to resolve emerging issues related to the mastery of conducting, in a comfortable and productive masterclass atmosphere. Masterclasses traditionally consist of two parts: First Part, where the music conducted is being accompanied by two experienced pianists; and the Second Part where the students have the opportunity to work with a professional symphony orchestra. The dress rehearsal preceding the concert is where the conductors have a full assestment of their skills, as well as the final public concert (professionally recorded) as the culmination of the masterclass. During his twenty or so years of teaching at masterclasses, aestro MAlexander Polyanichko has worked with conductors from countries around the world including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Oman, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Serbia, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States of America. His students have consistently expressed their appreciation on his pedagogical skills and the masterclasses, and have gone to conduct many successful performances of their own in their respective countries and beyond. Formerly a violinist in the Leningrad (St. Petersburg) Philharmonic Orchestra under Evgeny Mravinsky, Alexander Polianichko studied conducting at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire with Prof. Iliya Musin. In December 1988, he was awarded first prize in the Sixth All-Union Conducting Competition. In February 1989, he was invited by Maestro V. Gergiev to join to the Mariinsky (Kirov) Theatre as a House Conductor. Alexander toured with the Company throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States. In 1994, Polianichko made his London debut conducting English National Opera’s production of Eugene Onegin. This led to him conducting two productions of Tchaikovsky’s operas with the Royal Opera Covent Garden: a revival of The Queen of Spades with Placido Domingo, and a new production of The Tsarina’s Slippers by Francesca Zambello of Cherevichki. As a guest conductor, Polianichko has appeared at many renowned opera houses, including the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Royal Opera House, La Scala, Deutsche Oper, San Francisco Opera, Australian Opera, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Danish Royal Opera, Stuttgart Oper, Colorado Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Norwegian Royal Opera, and Swedish Royal Opera. In 1996, he was invited to take the Opéra National de Paris to New York for their appearances at the Met. The symphonic orchestras he has conducted around the world include the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony, Hallé Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Danish National Radio Orchestra, English and Irish Chamber Orchestras - among many others. From 1986 to 1989, Polianichko was the Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Belorussian State Chamber Orchestra in Minsk. He also taught conducting in Belorussian and Leningrad State Conservatoires. From 1996 to 1999, he was the Principal Conductor of the Bournemouth Sinfonietta. From 2012 to 2015, he was the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Rostov Academic Symphony Orchestra. He also served as the professor of the conducting department of the Rostov State Conservatoire. He was awarded the Honoured Artist of Russia title in 2009. Polianichko appears at many prestigious music festivals in Russia and abroad, including Edinburgh, Aldeburgh and Savonlinna, Golden Mask, White Nights and Chaliapin Opera Festivals, and had the privilege to work with many world-famous artists and singers, such as Anna Netrebko, Anne Sofie von Otter, Elena Obraztsova, Dawn Upshaw, Olga Borodina, Makvala Kasrashvili, Larissa Diadkova, Irina Bogacheva, as well as Placido Domingo, Jonas Kaufmann, Vladimir Galuzin, Ildar Abdrazakov, Sir Thomas Allen, Pata Burchuladze, Sergey Leiferkus, John Tomlinson and many others. He participated as the Jury member at the Rimsky-Korsakov Opera Singers’ Competition (1996), the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition (2011), and the Makris International Conducting Competition (2019). His featured recordings on DVD include Romeo & Juliet with Royal Sweden Ballet (2013); Cherevichki/Tsarina’s Slippers with Royal Opera House Covent Garden (2009); Beyond the Score with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (2008); as well as television recordings and live radio broadcasts worldwide. His is featured on various CD/audio recordings on the label Melodia in Russia. Since 2005, Polianichko gave orchestral masterclasses for the Swedish National Orchestra Academy, Symphony Orchestra of the Royal College of Music, London, Chamber Orchestra of the Cambridge University, and Britten-Pears Youth Orchestra. Since 2002, he has been holding annual conducting masterclasses in St. Petersburg organized by Peter the Great Music Academy, the Royal Baltic festival, and the Theatre of Hermitage Museum, to which students come from all over the world.