Gergiev

In response to a taxi driver questioning his destination recently, the globe-trotting Russian conductor Valery Gergiev reportedly responded: “It doesn’t matter: I’m in demand everywhere.” A little coy, perhaps—but accurate, too.

With major conducting engagements all over the world, Gergiev is one of the most frequent travelers in classical music today. One journalist recently remarked that he may be James Brown’s replacement as the hardest-working man in show business. In addition to holding positions with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Gergiev has been, since 1996, Artistic and General Director of St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theater and is largely responsible for keeping alive this historic home of his beloved Kirov Orchestra, which was financially and emotionally depleted following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

With the Kirov Orchestra, Gergiev is on a mission to erase the assumptions about Russian music as merely nationalist or socialist propaganda. As a Carnegie Hall Perspectives artist, Gergiev hopes to improve the image of Russian composers so that listeners will place them on the same artistic level commonly reserved for Europeans like Verdi and Wagner.

While Gergiev wants to promote Russian composers as part of a cosmopolitan classical music culture, he has not abandoned the musical arts in his own country. Gergiev leads Friends of the Kirov, a fund-raising organization for the Mariinsky Theater, and takes a strong hand in developing upcoming Russian talent. He discovered the young superstar soprano Anna Netrebko, who had been sweeping floors at the Mariinsky Theater to pay the bills while studying in St. Petersburg, and took her under his wing as both teacher and mentor.

Will Gergiev be able to accomplish his goals of improving the state of classical music both inside and outside Russia? How will he find the time? Vladimir Putin is one person who believes in the enduring impact of Gergiev’s actions; the Russian president recently remarked, “I will serve my term and disappear, but Gergiev will last forever.”

Carnegie Hall patrons will be able to enjoy the fruits of Gergiev’s efforts when he leads the Kirov Orchestra in Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Les noces, Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden, and acts from Glinka’s Ruslan and Ludmilla and Borodin’s Prince Igor in the beginning of December.