Biography

Kirill Kondrashin

Jump to

Kirill Petrovich Kondrashin was born on March 6, 1914, in Russia. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1936, and worked as conductor at the Maly Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Leningrad from 1936-1943. He moved to Moscow in 1943 and worked as the conductor at the Bolshoi Theatre for 16 years. In 1960 Kondrashin was appointed the Artistic Director of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. He conducted the premiere of the Symphony No. 13 "Baby Yar" by Dmitri Shostakovich and Yevgeniy Yevtushenko in 1961. He left the Soviet Union in 1975 and took a post of principal conductor of Amsterdam's Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1979. Kondrashin is known for his numerous recordings of the music of Soviet composers for Melodiya label during the 60's and 70's. He died on March 7, 1981.
- IMDb mini biography by: Steve Shelokhonov

He was the conductor for pianist Van Cliburn's famous 1958 recording of Tchaikovsky's "Piano Concerto No.1", the work which enabled Cliburn to win the Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in 1958.
Having spent many hours at rehearsals, he made a firm decision at the age of 14 to become a conductor.
His performance of Shostakovich's Symphony No.1 attracted the composer's attention and led to the formation of a firm friendship.
Kondrashin defected from the Soviet Union in December 1978 while touring in the Netherlands and sought political asylum there, whereupon the Soviet regime immediately banned all his previous recordings. He took the post of Permanent Guest Conductor of Amsterdam's Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1978 and remained in that position until his death.
He studied at the Moscow Conservatory from 1931 to 1936 under the conductor Boris Khaikin.

Suggest an edit or add missing content