Mikhail Tatarnikov

Conductor

A graduate of two departments of the St. Petersburg Conservatory – the violin class and the class of symphonic and operatic conducting – Mikhail began his career as a violinist with the Mariinsky Theatre. His goal was to conduct, however, and he soon became an assistant to Valery Gergiev, and then a conductor in his own right at the Mariinsky.

He has worked with orchestras all over the world, including La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera, as well as the Russian National Orchestra and other famous ensembles.

Since 2012, he has been musical director and chief conductor at the Mikhailovsky Theatre, where many of the premieres under his baton have won awards. Tatarnikov himself won a special prize as part of the Zolotoy Sofit theatre awards “for theatrical expression in conducting technique”.