“But Vladimir Jurowski, the gifted new music director
of the Glyndebourne Festival, took command
with his forceful, Karajanesque conducting,
choosing some riskily slow tempos but drawing out
a sumptuous, Wagnerian sound. The Met orchestra
clearly likes him: such finesse is usually heard
only when James Levine is on the podium.”
– The New Yorker
One of the most talented and sought-after young conductors of today, Vladimir Jurowski is enjoying a brilliant international operatic and symphonic career: Currently he is Music Director of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (in 2007-2008 he will succeed Kurt Masur as Principal Conductor of the orchestra), and is Principal Guest Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra. From the time of his professional international debut at the Wexford Festival with Rimsky-Korsakov's May Night, he has maintained a very active performance schedule.
In the 2006-2007 season Maestro Jurowski leads concerts with the London Philharmonic, Dresden Staatskapelle, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, and the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. March 2006 marked Maestro Jurowski’s New York orchestral debut at Avery Fisher Hall with the Russian National Orchestra and pianist Jefim Bronfman. At the 2006 Glyndebourne Festival, Maestro Jurowski conducted the London Philharmonic in both Fledermaus and the new production of Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery.
From his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1999 with Rigoletto, Maestro Jurowski has been a regular guest at the house, subsequently leading productions of Jenufa, Eugene Onegin and most recently The Queen of Spades. Maestro Jurowski is also a regular at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden where he has led critically acclaimed productions of Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden Cockerel and Hänsel und Gretel, following his debut with Nabucco in 1996.
Other important engagements have taken Maestro Jurowski to the Opera National de Paris for Eugene Onegin, Fledermaus and a new production of War and Peace, to the Welsh National Opera for new productions of Parsifal, Hänsel und Gretel, Wozzeck and Pique Dame, as well as to the Glyndebourne Festival Opera with Albert Herring, Die Zauberflöte, Gianni Schicchi, La Cenerentola and Otello. At the Teatro Comunale di Bologna he conducted The Bartered Bride, Pique Dame, Iolanta, and Pelléas et Mélisande, in Berlin Turandot, Der Freischütz, a new production of Don Carlo and Zemlinsky’s Ein Florentinische Tragödie, and at Santa Fe Opera a new production of Wozzeck. Furthermore, Maestro Jurowski conducted Penderecki’s The Devils of Loudun at the Semperoper in Dresden, a new production of Jenufa at the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, and a new production of Rigoletto at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Bruxelles. Other notable engagements include his leading Moïse et Pharaon at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Werther at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, Turandot at the Teatro Real in Madrid, and his return to the Wexford Festival with Meyerbeer’s L’Etoile du Nord.
As a symphonic conductor, Maestro Jurowski has led concerts with the Ensemble Intercontemporain de Paris, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio, the DSO Orchestra of Berlin in an all-Beethoven program, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra Sinfonica della Rai di Torino, the orchestras of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and of the Teatro La Fenice di Venezia, and – in the function of Principal Guest Conductor – both the Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna and the Orchestra Sinfonica Verdi in Milano. Additionally, Vladimir Jurowski regularly conducts the «Ensemble United Berlin», specializing in 20th century music, as well as the chamber orchestra «Arte Vitale», composed of members of the Dresden Staatskapelle Orchester.
Born in Moscow in 1972, Vladimir Jurowski completed his early musical studies with his father at the Moscow Conservatory of Music. In 1985 he moved with his family to Germany where he completed his formal studies at the music academies in Dresden and in Berlin, under Sir Colin Davis, Rolf Reuter and Semion Skigin, during which time he worked as assistant conductor in various German theatres. In 1993, at the age of 22, Vladimir Jurowski was nominated Chief Conductor of the «Jean Sibelius» Orchestra in Berlin where he remained until 1996.
Maestro Jurowski’s discography includes the first recording ever of the cantata Exil by Giya Kancheli for ECM (1994), L'etoile du Nord by Meyerbeer for Naxos-Marco Polo (1996), and Werther by Massenet (1999) on the BMG label, and a recording of works by Milhaud, Debussy and Tomasi for Arte Nova (1999).