Personal life of Valery Gergiev. Valery Gergiev

Valery Gergiev is the conductor of the London Symphony and the Munich Philharmonic Orchestras. For several decades he has been the permanent artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre. The musician's talent is admirable; Gergiev managed to open Russian music to the Western audience.

Valery Abisalovich was born on May 2, 1953 in Moscow. The Gergievs' only son was named after the test pilot who was the first to make a direct flight over the North Pole. Parents are Ossetians by nationality, father Abisal Zaurbekovich Gergiev commanded a battalion during the war.

Unfortunately, when Valery was 13 years old, his father passed away. The children were raised by their mother, Tamara Timofeevna Lagkueva. Gergiev has two sisters - Larisa, who became a recognized pianist, opera director, received the title of People's Artist of Russia, and Svetlana.

At the age of 7, Tamara Timofeevna brought her son to a music school, where her eldest daughter was already studying. Valery himself was more interested in playing football, so the boy looked restlessly out the window, listening to the teacher. The teacher played a melody and asked the boy to repeat the rhythm. Valery Gergiev repeated. The teacher did not give up and asked to do the same again - the boy decided to improvise. The teacher issued a verdict: Valery has no hearing, let him play football better. Later, recalling that case from the childhood period of his own biography, the famous conductor will say that he tried to improve the musical sequence, but the teacher did not understand this.

The mother ensured that her son was enrolled in a music school, where he quickly became the best student. Music lessons and outdoor games did not prevent Valery from studying well in a regular school - the boy participated in mathematical Olympiads. Before his death, the father managed to teach his son to always go towards his own goal and keep promises, and also love his family.

In 1972, Valery Gergiev entered the Leningrad Conservatory and studied there for 5 years in the class of Ilya Alexandrovich Musin, the founder of the Leningrad conducting school. According to the musician, life in the hostel became the first school of life. There, Valery fell in love with Russian classics and it was love from the first note that the conductor carried through life.

Music

For the first time Valery Gergiev loudly declared his talent in his student years. The young man participated in the international festival. Herbert von Karajan, held in Berlin, and received the Grand Prix. Then there was the next victory - at the All-Union Conducting Competition, held in Moscow.

After graduating from the conservatory, Valery Gergiev worked as an assistant conductor at the Kirov Theatre. A year later, in 1978, Valery first stood at the main console. Gergiev's debut as a conductor was the opera War and Peace. Then for four years Gergiev directed the orchestra in Armenia, and in 1988 he became the chief conductor of the Kirov Theatre. In the first year in his new position, Valery Gergiev organized a thematic festival based on the works of Modest Mussorgsky. In the future, holding such events has become a tradition.

To stage Russian operatic masterpieces, the maestro invites directors and set designers from around the world. Gergiev devoted the 1990 festival to creativity, 1991 - and 1994 - a. The next festival took place in 2006 in London and was dedicated to the centenary of his birth.

In the 90s, Valery Gergiev often toured abroad. In 1992, the musician made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera as a conductor of the opera Othello. In 1995, Gergiev was invited to conduct the Philharmonic Orchestra in Rotterdam. As a guest conductor, Gergiev collaborated with the ensemble until 2008.

In 2003, the conductor founded the charitable organization Valery Gergiev Foundation, which helps to organize musical, educational and outreach projects. At the initiative of the musician, a number of international music festivals have been founded and are operating.

2007 began for Valery Gergiev with changes. On January 1, the conductor headed the London Symphony Orchestra. Critics and colleagues characterized the musician's work as bright and emotional, always with an extraordinary reading. At the closing of the 2010 Winter Olympics, held in Vancouver, Gergiev conducted the orchestra on Red Square via teleconference.

In 2012, a large-scale international action took place with the participation of Valery Gergiev and a 3D broadcast of "Swan Lake" to the whole world. A year later, the maestro became one of the nominees for the Grammy Award after performing "Symphonic Dances" with musicians from the London Symphony Orchestra.

In 2014, Valery Gergiev participated in a concert dedicated to creativity. The conductor, together with the musicians of the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, performed Maurice Ravel's Bolero. The concert also featured Adagietto from Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 5 and Bizet-Shchedrin's Carmen Suite.

But Gergiev's main achievement is the Mariinsky Theatre, which the musician has been heading for 20 years. Valery Gergiev became artistic director and director of the Mariinsky Theater in 1996 and did everything possible and impossible to make the troupe the best in the world.

The artistic director spends 250 days a year with the troupes of his own theater. During the years spent in it, Gergiev brought up many world-famous singers, updated the repertoire, including works by Russian classics. Valery Gergiev works closely with. The musicians give concerts together, hold music festivals, and also go to master classes at musical educational institutions in Russia.

On May 5, 2016, in the amphitheater of Palmyra, right under the open sky, the Mariinsky Orchestra gave a concert “With a Prayer for Palmyra”. Conducted by Valery Gergiev.

People's Artist of the Russian Federation, laureate of state awards, multiple winner of the "Golden Mask" and "Golden Soffit" awards, and other prestigious awards Valery Gergiev remains faithful to music and his native theater.

Personal life

Valery Gergiev had hobbies in his youth, mostly opera singers. But each time the mother asked her son to think about what kind of mother and wife she would be, so the conductor was in no hurry to radical changes in his personal life.

Valery met his future wife in 1998 at a music competition in St. Petersburg. Ossetian Natalya Dzebisova, a graduate of the Valery Gergiev Music College in Vladikavkaz, was among the laureates and, without knowing it, won the heart of the maestro. The novel broke out immediately, but at first the young met secretly. Natalya was twice as young as Valery.

In 1999, the lovers got married - the wedding was celebrated in Vladikavkaz on a grand scale. More than a thousand guests from different parts of Russia and the CIS came to the celebration. A year later, the first-born Abisal was born in the family. In 2001, the second son, Valery, was born, and in 2003, daughter Tamara. Family photos of the maestro often appear online.

Journalists wrote that Valery Gergiev has an illegitimate daughter, Natalya, who was born in 1985 from a relationship with the philologist Elena Ostovich.

Valery Gergiev now

Now Valery Gergiev is actively engaged in creative work. In autumn, the maestro held a friendly meeting with the finalists of the project “You are super! Dances”, by participants who arrived from the countries of the post-Soviet space. The little artists met the venerable conductor after watching the opera A Christmas Tale.

In December, Valery Gergiev, together with the musicians of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, held the final concert performances of the year. At the same time, the opera The Enchanted Wanderer was performed at the Gasteig Philharmonic. A festival in honor of the composer, where the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra also performed, was held later in Moscow, in the hall. The conductor covers all the details of his creative life on the official website.

Projects

• Festival "For Peace in the Caucasus" in Vladikavkaz
• "Mikkeli Festival" in Finland
• Red Sea Festival in Eilat
• Kirov-Philharmonia
• Rotterdam Philharmonic
• Moscow Easter Festival
• "Stars of the White Nights" in St. Petersburg

Non-musical secrets of Valery Gergiev October 16th, 2013

Photo from ruslentarss.ru

Director of the Mariinsky Theater Valery Gergiev is known as a brilliant musician who did a lot to popularize Russian performers all over the world. But this is, so to speak, a view from one side. As it has become known recently, Gergiev also has a "dark" side.

Why do some colleagues not want to work with him, why does the Mariinsky Theater team demand to be dismissed from the post of director, and why did the financial activities of the Valery Gergiev Foundation attract the attention of law enforcement agencies? Let's try to figure it out.

Recently, a petition was published on the Internet addressed to the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Vladimir Medinsky demanding to dismiss the head of the Mariinsky Theater Valery Gergiev. The authors of the message, which has so far been signed by more than 100 people, recall that Gergiev has been the artistic director of the theater for 25 years. Moreover, over the years there have never been re-elections for the position of head of the theater.

In addition, classical, medieval nepotism reigns in the theater. For example, the post of artistic director of the Academy of Young Singers is occupied by Gergiev's elder sister, and the husband of his younger sister works as director of the theatre's Concert Hall. “The theater management violates the labor legislation of the Russian Federation,” the authors of the message angrily write, citing the appeal of the leaders of the theater ballet trade union to the Ministry of Culture and the appeal of the artist Mikhail Shemyakin to the judicial authorities to confirm their words.

Meanwhile, the professional level of theatrical performances is falling. Gergiev himself rarely visits the theater, having entrusted the leadership to insufficiently competent people. “The state of the Academy of Young Singers of the Mariinsky Theater is critical; as a result of mismanagement, this organization brings irreparable losses in the ranks of young talented people who have dedicated their lives to the art of opera,” the activists write.

Recently, Gergiev has been busy with the idea of ​​uniting the Mariinsky Theatre, the Academy of Russian Ballet, the St. Petersburg State Conservatory and the Zubov Institute into a single "National Center for the Arts", which evil tongues have already called "Gergiev's cultural empire." But the St. Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory has already spoken out against the proposal. Representatives of the trade union of the Russian Institute of Art History (Zubov Institute) also expressed a negative reaction to the proposal.

Another scandal broke out in St. Petersburg due to the conflict between Gergiev and the famous artist Mikhail Shemyakin. The latter said that he would sue the head of the Mariinsky Theater because the theater had refused to pay for his work on three performances for eight years. “Until now, for these eight years, no matter how much I asked, no matter how many letters I wrote, I was refused payment for my work. Those. choreographer received. The people who worked on the performances, props, all got their money. And the main artist didn't get a penny,” complains Shemyakin.

A lot of complaints against the maestro have accumulated among less eminent people. “10 years after the competition, a building in the style of a shopping center was erected on the New Stage, which stands out from the nature of the historical building,” user Anastasia Bezgubova. - 22 billion rubles of domestic, our budget, our taxes have been poured into the new Mariinsky Theater. It is known that during the construction phase, there were colossal capital outflows. In addition to these claims, which cannot but cast a shadow on the identity of the initiator of the new building of the Mariinsky Theater - Gergiev - we can also mention the inaccessibility of concerts to the main stage of the former Imperial Theater for a wide audience ... This policy of elitism, perhaps acceptable at the Vienna Opera, at the Metropolitan -opera, at the English National Opera, are unacceptable with us.

The financial activities of Gergiev and the foundation named after him stand apart. From 2004 to 2011, Gergiev attracted about $110 million to the settlement accounts of his foundation and related legal entities of Easter festival operators. About $23 million of these funds were spent on charity. Where did the rest of the funds go? It is difficult to say, since the fund does not publish financial statements on its website.

According to the former director of the foundation, Igor Zotov, he, on the personal instructions of Gergiev, transferred part of the funds to Gergiev himself in the form of fees and material assistance. So, in 2008-2010, the Gergiev Foundation paid the conductor more than 130 million rubles under donation and material assistance agreements, and paid another 10.5 million rubles for personal income tax for the maestro.

Here, by the way, there were some relatives too - the legal services for Gergiev's company CJSC "Moscow Easter Festival" were handled by his cousin Kazbek Lakuti, who headed the firm "Ruspravo". When Lakuti was under investigation for dubious dealings in this complex system of interconnected companies, Gergiev signed a waiver of all claims against him.

Perhaps the maestro, who is aiming for the "emperors of the cultural life of Russia", is really better to focus on music?

According to Change.org,

Almost the entire creative biography of Valery Gergiev is associated with the Mariinsky Theater, which he has been directing for almost thirty years. Devoting most of his time to musical creativity, Valery Abisalovich practically did not leave him for his personal life, and only a meeting with singer Natalya Dzebisova made him think about starting a family.

They met in 1998 at the Peter and Paul Assemblies competition - the jury immediately liked Natalya, and especially Valery Gergiev, who, despite the huge age difference of twenty-eight years, was not afraid to offer the young singer a hand and heart.

In the photo - Valery Gergiev with his wife

They kept their romance a secret, and only before the wedding itself they informed all relatives, friends and colleagues about this important event in their personal lives.

Natalya Dzebisova

The future wife of Valery Gergiev comes from Vladikavkaz, where she graduated from a school named after her husband, and their wedding took place in the same city, to which more than a thousand guests were invited.

The celebration took place at the Intourist Hotel, a building owned by the ancestors of Valery Abisalovich's mother until 1917. Over the years of family life, Valery Gergiev's wife gave him three children - two sons, Abisala and Valery, and a daughter, Tamara.

Valery Gergiev with his son

The artistic director of the Mariinsky Theater has another child - daughter Natalia, who was born by Elena Ostovich, but this happened even before Valery Abisalovich met his future wife.

The outstanding conductor could arrange his personal life and start his own family earlier, but only Natalia turned out to be the only woman who liked Valery Abisalovich's mother, whose opinion Gergiev always listens to.

Due to his work, Valery Gergiev has to fly a lot around the world - he not only gives concerts and tours, but is also the chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, and led the London Symphony Orchestra for eight years. While he travels the world, his wife and children are waiting for him at home.

Brief biography of Valery Gergiev

The future director of the Mariinsky Theater was born in Moscow in 1953, and when he was seven years old, his mother took him to a music school, where his sister Svetlana was already studying. They did not immediately accept Valery, because at first the teachers did not see his musical abilities in him.

In the photo - Valery Gergiev in his youth

Then his main hobby was not music, but football, which Gergiev thought about all the time while classes were going on.

However, he very quickly became one of the most successful students, and the teachers believed in his talent.

Mom did everything for her son to become a musician - after school he entered the Leningrad Conservatory, and already during his studies he became the winner of the international competition of conductors.

After graduating from the conservatory, Valery Gergiev was admitted to the Kirov (Mariinsky) Theater as an assistant to the chief conductor, and a year later he independently conducted Sergei Prokofiev's opera War and Peace.

His career developed more than rapidly - he devoted all his time to music, and the peaks of creativity obeyed him one after another.

At thirty-five, Valery Gergiev was already in charge of the theatre, and his team quickly gained international prestige.

Under Valery Abisalovich, the Academy of Young Opera Singers was opened in the theater, and prestigious music festivals began to be held.

Gergiev's merits are marked by numerous awards, orders and medals. He bears the title of "Artist of the World", "Honorary Citizen" of several Russian and foreign cities.

Valery Abisalovich Gergiev (Ossetian Gergiti Abisali fort Valery). Born May 2, 1953 in Moscow. Soviet and Russian conductor, teacher, theater figure, producer. Artistic director and general director of the Mariinsky Theater (since 1988). People's Artist of the Russian Federation (1996). Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation (2013). Laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation (1993, 1998, 2016).

By nationality - Ossetian. It got its name in honor of the famous pilot.

Father - Abisal Zaurbekovich Gergiev, during the Great Patriotic War he commanded a battalion. He died when Valery was 13 years old.

Mother - Tamara Timofeevna Lagkueva.

Sister - Larisa Abisalovna Gergieva, People's Artist of Russia and Ukraine.

Sister - Svetlana Abisalovna Gergieva.

He grew up in Ordzhonikidze (now Vladikavkaz), the capital of North Ossetia. From an early age, he demonstrated a unique ear for music. He graduated from the Music College in piano and conducting classes.

In 1972 he entered the Leningrad Conservatory in the conducting class of Ilya Musin. During his studies in 1976 he won the prestigious Herbert von Karajan International Conducting Competition in Berlin. In the same year he won the All-Union Conducting Competition in Moscow.

In 1981-1985 Gergiev led the State Symphony Orchestra of Armenia.

Since 1988, he has taken the place of the chief conductor of the Kirov Theater. In his first season in his new post, Gergiev held a festival dedicated to the operas of M.P. Mussorgsky. Then he organized music festivals regularly.

Gergiev's art of conducting is characterized by vivid emotionality and individuality in reading the score. The conductor's extensive discography includes opera performances, symphonic and concert works.

He has recorded works by Bela Bartok, Alexander Borodin, Johannes Brahms, Richard Wagner, Giuseppe Verdi, Claude Debussy, Gaetano Donizetti, Gustav Mahler (all symphonies), Modest Mussorgsky (all operas except Salambo and The Marriage), Sergei Prokofiev ( all symphonies, all piano and violin concertos, a number of operas), Maurice Ravel, Sergei Rachmaninov, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Igor Stravinsky, Pyotr Tchaikovsky (all symphonies with the exception of Manfred and the reconstructed Seventh, all ballets, a number of operas and symphonic works) , Dmitri Shostakovich (all concerts, all symphonies, the opera The Nose), Rodion Shchedrin (a number of symphonic works and operas, some of which premiered under Gergiev).

Since the early 1990s, he began to perform frequently abroad. Gergiev made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1992 in Verdi's Otello. In the future, he repeatedly performed there as a guest conductor.

From 1995 to 2008, he was Principal Guest Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. From 2007-2015 he was Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.

Since 2010 - Dean of the Faculty of Arts at St. Petersburg State University. Since February 15, 2013 - Chairman of the All-Russian Choral Society.

Together with the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, he participated in the closing ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

In 2015, he led the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.

Owns a 15% stake in Eurodon, a turkey meat producer. According to Forbes, he is the most financially wealthy Russian musician, one of the richest cultural figures in Russia.

Socio-political position of Valery Gergiev

In 2001, with the assistance of Valery Gergiev, a monument was unveiled at the Russian cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois on the grave of Gaito Gazdanov, a Russian émigré writer, Ossetian by origin.

On August 21, 2008, Valery Gergiev with the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra gave a concert in Tskhinval in memory of the civilian victims in the war. Before the concert, he stated in Russian and English: "The world community says that the Russians entered Georgia? But no one says that thousands of people were buried alive in a sleeping city! So, hitting children with tanks is the valor of a male warrior in the Caucasus?! It's a shame!".

In 2012, he was a confidant of a candidate for the President of the Russian Federation.

On March 11, 2014, he signed an appeal by cultural figures of the Russian Federation in support of the foreign policy of Russia and the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin in Ukraine. After Gergiev signed this appeal, discussions arose in the leadership of Munich and the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra about the legality of giving the conductor the opportunity to lead the city Philharmonic Orchestra from 2015.

In May 2016, the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev gave a concert in the amphitheater of the Syrian Palmyra, liberated by the army of the Syrian government with the support of the Russian military. The concert was dedicated to the memory of the caretaker of Palmyra Khaled Asaad, who was executed by ISIS militants, and the Russian officer and hero of the Russian Federation Alexander Prokhorenko, who died during the liberation of Palmyra from ISIS.

During the 2018 presidential election, he was a confidant of Vladimir Putin.

He is a member of the Public Council under the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.

Valery Gergiev in the program "Pozner"

Personal life of Valery Gergiev:

Married. Wife - Natalya Dzebisova, a graduate of the Valery Gergiev Music College in Vladikavkaz. We met in 1998 at a music competition in St. Petersburg. We got married in 1999. The celebration took place at the Intourist Hotel, a building that until 1917 was owned by the ancestors of Valery Gergiev's mother.

The marriage produced sons Abisal (born 2000) and Valery (born 2001), as well as a daughter Tamara (born 2003).

Has an illegitimate daughter Natalia (born 1985) from the philologist Elena Ostovich.

Filmography of Valery Gergiev:

1991 - Sergei Prokofiev. Suite of Life (documentary)
1993 - Promenade at the Mariinsky (documentary)
2001 - Russian Ark - episode
2005 - Sacred Stage: The Mariinsky Theater (documentary)
2006 - Testament of Baron Stieglitz (documentary)
2016 - After you - cameo
2016 - Our Prokofiev (documentary)
2016 - Prokofiev: on the way (documentary)

Producer work by Valery Gergiev:

2017 - Matilda

Awards and titles of Valery Gergiev:

Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation (May 1, 2013) - for special labor services to the state and people;
- Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" III degree (April 24, 2003) - for outstanding contribution to musical culture;
- Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" IV degree (May 2, 2008) - for a great contribution to the development of domestic and world musical and theatrical art, many years of creative activity;
- Order of Alexander Nevsky (July 4, 2016) - for a great contribution to the development of domestic and world musical and theatrical art, many years of creative activity;
- Order of Friendship (April 12, 2000) - for special merits in the preparation and provision of important humanitarian foreign policy actions;
- Medal "In memory of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg" (2003);
- Gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation (January 15, 2009) - for holding a concert of the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater under the direction of Valery Gergiev in support of the residents of the city of Tskhinvali who suffered during the Georgian-Ossetian conflict;
- Medal "For the liberation of Palmyra" (Ministry of Defense of Russia) (May 16, 2016);
- Prize of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in the field of culture and art (2016) - for cultural and educational projects;
- Medal "For Valiant Labor" (Tatarstan) - for fruitful cooperation with the Republic of Tatarstan, active participation in the implementation of republican projects in the field of culture, outstanding contribution to the development of domestic and world musical art;
- Order "Glory of Ossetia" (North Ossetia-Alania) (May 14, 2016) - for an outstanding contribution to the development of the musical art of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania;
- Medal "Hero of Kuzbass" (Kemerovo region) (October 22, 2014) - for significant merits and achievements in concert and educational activities, as well as for a great personal contribution to the development and preservation of classical art;
- Order of Saint Mesrop Mashtots (Armenia, 2000);
- Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Italy, 2001);
- Order "Danaker" (2001, Kyrgyzstan);
- Medal "Dank" (Kyrgyzstan, 1998);
- Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion (Netherlands, 2005);
- Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, V degree (Ukraine, May 10, 2006) - for a significant personal contribution to the development of cultural ties between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, high professionalism and many years of fruitful creative activity;
- Cross of the 1st class of the Order of Merit for the Federal Republic of Germany (Germany, 2001) - for personal contribution to the popularization of the music of German composers;
- Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland (Finland, 2006);
- Officer of the Order of the Legion of Honor (France, 2007);
- Order of Arts and Letters (France);
- Order of the Rising Sun with golden rays and ribbon (Japan, 2006);
- Order "Uatsamonga" (South Ossetia, January 29, 2009) - for the courage and high patriotism, invaluable help and support of the people of South Ossetia during the liquidation of the consequences of the Georgian aggression in August 2008;
- Silver medal of Valencia (Spain, 2006);
- Medal Pro Mikkeli (Mikkeli, Finland, 2005);
- Medal named after Johan van Oldenbarnefelt (Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 2008);
- Gold medal "For merits in culture Gloria Artis" (Poland, 2011);
- Badge of Honor of the President of Bulgaria for his contribution to the development of Bulgarian culture and spirituality (Bulgaria, 2017);
- Order of Saints Cyril and Methodius for his contribution to the development of spirituality and Bulgarian culture (Bulgaria, 2017);
- Order of the Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow III degree (Russian Orthodox Church, 2003);
- Order of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir (Ukrainian Orthodox Church, 2001);
- Medal of St. Sergius of Radonezh, I degree (Russian Orthodox Church, 2010);
- Order of the Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow II degree (Russian Orthodox Church, 2013);
- Commemorative gold medal "Olive branch with diamonds" (Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) State University);
- People's Artist of the Russian Federation (June 20, 1996) - for great services in the field of art;
- People's Artist of Ukraine (2004);
- People's Artist of North Ossetia - Alania;
- Honored Worker of Kazakhstan (2011);
- Honorary citizen of St. Petersburg (2007);
- Honorary citizen of Vladikavkaz (2003);
- Honorary citizen of Lyon;
- Honorary citizen of Toulouse;
- The title of "Conductor of the Year" (1994) was awarded by the decision of the jury of the international organization "International Classical Music Awards";
- The title of "UNESCO Artist for Peace" (2003);
- Honorary Doctor of St. Petersburg State University (2001);
- Honorary Professor of Moscow State University. M. V. Lomonosov (2001);
- Honorary Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (2008);
- Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music (2011);
- Honorary citizen of Belomorsk (2014);
- Honorary Doctor of Science of the National Music Academy named after Professor Pancho Vladigerov (2017);
- State Prize of the Russian Federation 1993 - For the programs of festivals dedicated to the 150th anniversary of M. P. Mussorgsky in 1989 and the 100th anniversary of S. S. Prokofiev in 1991;
- State Prize of the Russian Federation 1998 - For the performances of the State Academic Mariinsky Theater "Parsifal", "The Flying Dutchman" by R. Wagner, "Swan Lake" by P. I. Tchaikovsky, "Symphony in C" by J. Bizet, "The Dying Swan" by K. Saint-Saens;
- State Prize of the Russian Federation 2015 - For outstanding achievements in the field of humanitarian activities;
- Laureate of the Prize of the President of the Russian Federation in the field of literature and art in 2001 (January 30, 2002);
- Five-time winner of the country's theater award "Golden Mask" (from 1996 to 2000);
- Four-time winner of the theater award of St. Petersburg "Golden Soffit" (1997, 1998, 2000 and 2003);
- Russian opera award "Casta diva" for the best performance - "Parsifal" (1998);
- Laureate of the Tsarskoye Selo Art Prize (1999);
- Laureate of the Prize. D. Shostakovich (Yuri Bashmet Foundation, 1997);
- Winner of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music Polar Music Prize (2006);
- Winner of the Herbert von Karajan Prize (Baden-Baden, 2006);
- Winner of the American-Russian Cultural Cooperation Foundation Award (2006);
- International Prize named after Sergei Rachmaninoff (2015)

Valery Gergiev is an outstanding musician of our time, a bright world star, a conductor from God, who won the hearts of listeners and lovers of classical music in dozens of countries. Today he is the artistic director of the famous Mariinsky Theatre, conductor of the best orchestras in Europe - the Munich Philharmonic and the London Symphony, as well as the honorary conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.

Gergiev Valery Abisalovich, whose photo is presented in the article, is a talented person who has achieved extraordinary heights in his profession and life. Awards, prizes, titles are in the dozens. Perhaps, rarely any politician or public figure will be able to stand on the same level next to Valery Abisalovich. This man, with his creativity and his inherent great feeling of love and responsibility, creates a true story.

Bright initiatives

It was on the initiative of Valery Gergiev that the world-famous concert of symphonic music took place in dilapidated Palmyra (2016). The outstanding conductor dedicated this concert to the memory of the hero of Russia, Russian officer Alexander Prokhorenko, who died during the liberation of the ancient city, and the caretaker of the open-air museum, Khaled Asaad, who refused to obey the demands of Islamic militants and was executed by ISIS. (ISIS is a terrorist organization banned in Russia.)

The brilliant conductor also showed his civic position in 2008, when, together with the musicians of the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, he gave a concert on Tskhinval Square, dedicating it to the memory of people who became victims of a short but bloody war between Georgia and South Ossetia. Before the concert, he publicly expressed his pain, reminding the world community that under the tank shelling of this city, thousands of civilians died in their beds before they could wake up. He noted that hitting children with tanks is a shame.

"Beslan. Music for Life” - a whole series of charity concerts dedicated to the Beslan tragedy was organized by conductor Valery Gergiev in different capitals of the world - Moscow, Paris, New York, London, Rome and Tokyo (2004).

Valery Gergiev: biography. origins

Gergiev Valery Abisalovich was born in Moscow on May 2, 1953. The parents of the future famous musician, at a young age, took their son to their native land - North Ossetia. Therefore, Valery Gergiev grew up and studied in Vladikavkaz (Ordzhonikidze). Father, Abisal Zaurbekovich Gergiev, was a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, served as a battalion commander. He brought up wonderful human qualities in his son, which helped him to stubbornly go towards his goal all his life. The father bequeathed to Valery to love his family and always keep the promises made to people. However, the father did not get to see the glorious deeds of his son. He died when Valery was 13 years old. Therefore, his mother, Tamara Timofeevna Lagkueva, raised him and two sisters.

At the call of the heart

A mother always notices in her child those abilities and qualities that other people do not see from the outside. Like all boys, Valery was very fond of playing football and did not even think about music, and those around him simply did not see any special musical abilities in him. However, maternal instinct told Tamara Timofeevna that her son had great musical abilities that needed to be developed.

When Valery was 7 years old, his mother took him to a music school, where the boy's older sister was already studying. However, the first meeting with the music teacher was unsuccessful. Valery did not want to sit in the classroom for a long time, he kept looking at the window, behind which his peers were playing football. Therefore, he did not listen to the teacher very carefully. The teacher, testing the musical abilities of the future student, played the melody, and then asked Valery to reproduce the rhythm. The boy coped with this task successfully. However, the teacher, in order to rule out an accident, insisted that Valery repeat what he had heard once again. Valery Gergiev was bored, so he began to improvise, according to the conductor himself, he even tried to improve the scale somewhat.

However, the teacher simply did not expect this, and did not understand that in front of him was a boy with amazing musical abilities, and Valery Gergiev's musical abilities simply do not fit into the standard framework of pedagogical practice that is applied to ordinary children. Alas, the teacher passed his "verdict" - the boy has no ear for music at all, and it would be better for him to really play football.

However, Tamara Timofeevna was stubborn, she insisted that Valery be sure to be accepted into a music school, which in the end happened. Very quickly, Valery Gergiev turned into the best pupil of his musical educational institution. Music lessons did not interfere with another talent of the young Valery Gergiev - mathematics. He studied very well at a comprehensive school, participated and won in mathematical Olympiads, continued to play football. However, music became the main thing in his life, love for it overpowered all other hobbies.

First successes

After graduating from school, the young talent Valery Gergiev passed his exams with flying colors and became a student at the Leningrad Conservatory, which bears the name of the composer Rimsky-Korsakov. A great success for the future outstanding musician was the fact that he got into the class of symphony conducting with Professor Ilya Musin.

A great teacher found for himself that very student who appears only once in his life - ready to work on himself, polish, perfect his unique musical abilities. The result exceeded all expectations, and at the age of 19 student Valery Gergiev was invited to collaborate with the Mariinsky (Kirov) Theatre. In fact, this is nonsense, but the fact testifies to what a huge talent Professor Ilya Musin was able to reveal in his student.

A stunning success at the age of 23 was natural for Valery Gergiev - the first prize of the All-Union Competition of Conductors, moreover, professionals, and not students, who have serious creative experience behind them. As Valery Abisalovich himself recalls, the average age of the contestants is over 30, and even a serious jury consisting of eminent musicians did not quite understand what to do with such a young talent and whether it was possible to give him the first prize. Quite expected was the victory of Valery Gergiev at the Berlin conducting competition, which bears the name of G. von Karajan (1977).

Valery Gergiev: Mariinsky Theater

Yuri Temirkanov, the great maestro, invited Valery Gergiev, still a very young but promising musician, to become an assistant to the chief conductor of the Mariinsky Theater right after the conservatory. Valery Abisalovich made his debut as a conductor in the opera War and Peace in 1978. And 10 years later, as a result of a unanimous vote by the creative team of the theater, Valery Gergiev becomes the artistic director of the Mariinsky. Further, after another 8 years, - the director.

The nineties were not easy for Russia, and especially for the Mariinsky. Musicians and artists reached out to Europe for a decent salary, for a more prosperous life. At such a difficult moment, Valery Gergiev sets an almost fantastic task for the team - to become the best theater in the world. And he did it.

The Valery Gergiev Orchestra has replenished with young and talented musicians. The theater repertoire included new performances - "Tristan and Isolde", "Lohengrin", "The Flying Dutchman", "Parsifal" by Richard Wagner, whose music is so close in creative spirit to Valery Abisalovich himself.

For the first time in Russia, a wonderful staging of the complex and brilliant performance-tetralogy "Ring of the Nibelungen" was staged. Under the leadership of Gergiev, the Mariinsky brought up new world-famous opera stars - Anna Netrebko, Olga Borodina, Galina Gorchakova. Active cooperation with famous foreign theaters began. This is the great La Scala, and the Metropolitan, and Royal Covent Garden and many others. Such creative interpenetration gave rise to new relationships with the foreign audience, a deep understanding of Russian musical art.

Festivals

In fact, Valery Gergiev's talent is not only musical. He is an excellent administrator who was able to literally “pull out” the Mariinsky Theater and give it a new life. As the famous director and chief conductor himself says, he had to come up with a lot of new things, organize festivals, joint performances, trips in order to revive the Mariinsky, not to let it sink to the bottom. He literally created new musical events of world significance - famous festivals.

For example, the wonderful St. Petersburg festival "Stars of the White Nights", which has been held annually since 1993. The heart of this forum of music and beauty is Valery Abisalovich himself. However, he also characterizes his talent on the other hand - as a wonderful entrepreneurial gift.

Valery Gergiev says that today the name of the Mariinsky Theater and the St. Petersburg festival attracts tourists from all over the world. They bring in a million dollars a month. And when Valery Abisalovich was just starting the "promotion" of Russian art, this figure was only 15 thousand dollars.

His musical offspring - festivals, which are held both in Russia and in other countries of the world, are now loved and famous among admirers of classical music. The wonderful Moscow Easter Festival, the Finnish Michelli, the Israeli Red Sea Festival, the Gergiev Festival in Holland - all these outstanding and luxurious holidays of musical art are met with delight by spectators from different countries of the world.

Awards

Valery Abisalovich Gergiev for his outstanding work and activities aimed at the dissemination of Russian art, was awarded many awards in different countries of the world. Among them are the Order of the Legion of Honor (France), the Order of Merit for the Italian Republic, the Order of the Lion (Finland), the Order of the Rising Sun with Golden Rays and Ribbon (Japan) and many others. However, the awards dearest to the heart, of course, are domestic: the title of Hero of Labor, the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, Alexander Nevsky, Friendship, and especially the medal For the Liberation of Palmyra.

Church awards are no less important - the orders of the Holy Right-Believing Prince Daniel of Moscow, the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, the medal of St. Sergius of Radonezh. Honorary titles of People's Artist of Russia, Ukraine, North Ossetia, Honored Worker of Kazakhstan, "Conductor of the Year" from the international organization International Classical Music Awards, "UNESCO Artist for Peace" and many others were also awarded. In addition, it should be noted international and domestic awards, the title of laureate of competitions, both international and Russian. Including state awards of the Russian Federation and awards of the President of Russia in the field of literature and art.

Family

In 1998, Valery Gergiev met his future wife, Natalia Dzebisova, at a music competition in St. Petersburg. She won not only the title of laureate, but also the heart of the great maestro. A year later, a grandiose Ossetian wedding took place in Vladikavkaz, which was attended by people from all over the world, musicians, colleagues, friends as guests. Today Valery Abisalovich has two children, a son and a daughter - a strong, reliable and loving family.