Rozhdestvenskii, Gennadii Nikolaevich

Born May 4, 1931, in Moscow. Soviet conductor. People’s Artist of the USSR (1976).

Rozhdestvenskii graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1954. He studied conducting with N. P. Anosov and piano with L. N. Oborin. From 1951 to 1960, he was a conductor and from 1965 to 1970 principal conductor of the Bolshoi Theater. Between 1961 and 1974 he served as principal conductor and music director of the Full Symphony Orchestra of the All-Union Radio and Television. In 1974 he became conductor of both the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, which he directed until 1977, and the Moscow Musical Chamber Theater; from 1978 he was conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London. Rozhdestvenskii is a member of the faculty of the Moscow Conservatory, where he has been a professor since 1976.

In addition to classical works, Rozhdestvenskii’s repertoire includes a wide selection of contemporary works, and he has given special attention to the compositions of Soviet composers, above all, those of S. S. Prokofiev. Rozhdestvenskii has been awarded the Lenin Prize (1970) for his work in the staging of Khachaturian’s ballet Spartacus at the Bolshoi Theater. He has also been awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and the Bulgarian Order of Cyril and Methodius. Rozhdestvenskii is an Honorary Member of the Swedish Royal Academy (1975). [22–497–1; updated]