Gergiev, Valery Abisalovich (1953– )

Russian conductor. He was appointed artistic director and chief conductor of the Mariinsky Theatre (formerly the Kirov Theatre) in 1988 and chief conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in 1995 and the London Symphony Orchestra in 2007.

He took the Kirov to the New York Metropolitan Opera House in 1992 with Boris Godunov and The Queen of Spades and led in the company in a Rimsky-Korsakov festival in St Petersburg, Russia, and in a concert of The Invisible City of Kitezh in London, England, in 1994 (a staged version was produced at the Edinburgh Festival, Scotland, in 1995).

He studied in Leningrad (now St Petersburg) and assisted Yuri Temirkanov at the Kirov Theatre there. He was chief conductor of the Armenian State Orchestra 1981–85, and conducted at the Kirov from 1977. Co-productions with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, have involved Boris Godunov and The Fiery Angel.